is the family member occupying a dependant relative ?
Residence provided for a Dependent Relative 10
Updated March, 2014 [19.7.3]
3.22 Subsection (11) of Section 604 extends the scope of the relief available to an individual on the disposal of a residence (including a garden or grounds not exceeding one acre) which he or she had provided for use by a dependent relative. The requirements of Section 604 as regards periods of occupation and use of the premises by the relative apply as they would to an individual who was owner/occupier.
‘Dependent relative’ in relation to an individual means:
A relative of the individual, or of the husband or wife of the individual, who is incapacitated by old age or infirmity from maintaining himself or herself or
A person who is the widowed father or mother (whether or not incapacitated by old age or infirmity) of the individual or of the spouse of the individual or
a person who is the father or mother of the individual or of the wife or husband of the individual who is a surviving civil partner and who has not subsequently married or entered into another civil partnership.
The term relative is not defined and it should be given its widest possible meaning. In determining whether or not relief is due, no account should be taken of the income of the relative.
It is a condition of the relief that the dwelling-house must have been the sole (not merely the main) residence of the relative. It is a further condition of the relief that the dwelling-house should have been provided gratuitously (rent- free and without any other consideration). Accordingly, any period during which the relative paid a rent to the owner, or occupied the residence in consideration of performing services for the owner, will not count as a qualifying period.
It is a term of the relief that only one dwelling-house provided by a claimant for a dependent relative can qualify at any one period of time. A husband and wife living together are treated as separate individuals for the purposes of the relief for a dependant’s residence. In the event, therefore, that a husband provides a residence for a dependent and during the same period of time, a residence is also provided for a dependent by his wife, both houses may, on disposal, qualify for the relief, provided the other requirements of Section 604 are fulfilled. It should be noted that:-
(a) the separate treatment of husband and wife must be strictly preserved - the houses must be genuinely provided by the husband and the wife respectively, not both establishments by one or other of them,
(b) as regards their own principal private residence, the husband and wife may still qualify for the relief in respect of one but only one principal private residence at any one time.
11
The relief to be given, on a claim being made by the disponer, is such relief as would be given under Section 604 in respect of the dwelling-house and grounds if the dwelling-house (or the relevant part thereof) had been the disponer’s only or main residence during the period of residence by the dependent relative.
Furthermore, any relief given under the subsection does not affect the relief available to the disponer, under Section 604, in respect of his or her own residence and is additional to any relief he or she could claim in respect of the house in question in respect of any period during which he or she lived in the house prior to its occupation by the dependent relative.