CCM15075 - Undisclosed Partners: Undisclosed Partner has No Other Address

A customer may accept that the suspected partner uses their address for mailing purposes. This could be for:

• tax and benefit purposes
• financial purposes (bank account, credit card, loan)
• for motor vehicle purposes (insurance, vehicle registration)

The customer might suggest this is because the suspected partner has no fixed abode and simply drifts around a series of friends or because their mail is not secure at their own home.

You are entitled to ask for evidence of the suspected partner’s other accommodation address and often an appeal tribunal will ask for this sort of information. However, you cannot demand that they provide such information nor can you say that if they do not provide evidence of an alternative address you will treat them as LTAHAW or LTACP and terminate their award.

The absence of such evidence is not conclusive proof that the customer is living with the suspected partner. Where the customer cannot provide such evidence you must still look at all of the other criteria and decide their various strengths and weaknesses. In addition, you should consider whether it is reasonable for the suspected partner to be using the customer’s address.