CG64455 - Only or main residence: wider context

Outside the field of taxation the identification of a residence is frequently important. While the word must be construed by reference to its context, the use of the word in a similar context sheds light on the interpretation to be used for private residence relief.

Under the Representation of the People Act 1948 entitlement to vote in Parliamentary elections is given to persons resident in a constituency on a qualifying date. In Fox v Stirk, Ricketts v Registration Officer for the City of Cambridge [1970] 3 All ER 7 the Court of Appeal considered whether students should be regarded as resident in the constituency of the University they attended. Lord Denning M.R. commented that

‘I derive three principles. The first principle is that a man can have two residences. He can have a flat in London and a house in the country. He is resident in both. The second principle is that temporary presence at an address does not make a man resident there. A guest who comes for the weekend is not resident. A short stay visitor is not resident. The third principle is that temporary absence does not deprive a person of his residence. If he happens to be away for a holiday or away for the weekend or in hospital, he does not lose his residence on that account'.

Lord Widgery commented that

‘This conception of residence is of the place where a man is based or where he continues to live, the place where he sleeps and shelters and has his home'.

These comments are regarded as equally applicable to private residence relief.