Fair enough Mike. I think the local authority has to rely on this decision and many on hbinfo have done so. I also accept that the appellants rep is going to try hard to get the Tribunal to reject it and return to the older arguments. I would feel very comfortable myself with this decision and an RO decision taking all the circs into account. If a Tribunal decided the property was worthless I would probably leave it at that bearing in mind the age of the partner but it is difficult for an assessment officer to do that when in most practical instances it is not going to be worthless.
I should add that in the early days of the “bedroom tax” many Tribunal Judges fought tooth and nail against the early UT decisions before the sheer weight of the higher Courts told. Here there is just the one UT decision (so far as I know) so most experienced appeals Officers could make a case from either position.
