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This particular case
law has until now been used by most councils to support denial to disabled people
of an extra room for a carer. By way that the room is used by someone else and
not by the disabled person and therefore is not of essential importance under
the 1992 act. 
This has now been altered under a president
set on appeal in 1997. Which properly defines the
1992 act in relation to clause 5.1.8 of that act and subsequent Department
of Environment guidance.
5.1.8
Case law arising from the former provisions of the Rating (Disabled Persons) Act 1978 goes some way towards helping to clarify this issue. In Howell Williams v Wirral Borough Council (1981), the Court of Appeal considered the case of a disabled person who had claimed relief in respect of a living room containing a night storage heater. The heater was needed because of the claimant's disability, but it was held that the room was not, itself, essential or of major importance to her by reason of her disability.
