Housing rights of people displaced by the war in Ukraine

There are three main schemes under Appendix Ukraine Scheme of the Immigration Rules which allow people affected by the war in Ukraine to settle in the UK. These are the:

• Ukraine Family Scheme

• Homes For Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme

• Ukraine Extension Scheme

People can be granted leave to remain for up to three years with rights to work, study and access public funds.

A person given leave under these schemes is:

• eligible for homelessness assistance

• eligible for an allocation of social housing

• entitled to claim welfare benefits

Someone who needs to apply for leave under one of the schemes should get immigration advice.

The Ukraine Family Scheme

The Ukraine Family Scheme allowed Ukrainian nationals and their immediate family members to apply to join a family member living in the UK. The scheme closed for new applications on 19 February 2024.

The family member can be either:

• a British national

• someone settled in the UK - for example, with indefinite leave to remain or settled status

• someone from the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland who has pre-settled status and started living in the UK before 1 January 2021

• someone with refugee status or humanitarian protection in the UK

Homes for Ukraine

The Homes for Ukraine scheme allows sponsors living in the UK to provide a home for Ukrainian individuals or families.

Sponsors can be organisations or individuals of any nationality, providing they have at least six months leave to remain in the UK.

The Ukraine Extension Scheme

The Ukraine Extension Scheme is open to Ukrainian nationals and their immediate family members. The person must have had permission to enter or stay in the UK on 18 March 2022, unless they were in the UK with permission to enter or stay immediately before 1 January 2022 and their permission has since expired.

The Ukraine Extension Scheme closes for new applications on 16 May 2024.

Evidence of status under the schemes

Someone with leave to remain under one of the schemes is likely to need to prove their status to apply for housing or benefits.

A person with status under the family scheme or sponsorship scheme might already have a formal visa or vignette with their travel document, or a permission letter which they would show on entry to the UK. They would receive an entry stamp from the Border Force official on travel document, which gives six months permission to access public funds.

A person who supplied biometric data before coming to the UK might have a Biometric Residence Permit, confirming their three year permission. Someone who was not able to supply the data would need to complete their application after entering the UK. They would be issued with a Biometric Permit with the full three years permission.

Other types of leave

A person from Ukraine who cannot return because of the conflict might have a different type of leave. For example, if they were already in the UK or were granted leave by a different route.

Some people from Ukraine have claimed asylum in the UK. Someone who has claimed asylum and is waiting for a decision is not eligible for housing or benefits. They can apply for help from the Home Office. If a person from Ukraine is granted refugee status, they are eligible for housing assistance and benefits.

Use our Homeless rights checker for a quick answer on what homeless help someone can get based on their immigration and residence status.

The Homes for Ukraine Scheme allows Ukrainian nationals to come to the UK to stay with a named sponsor.

The accommodation can be a spare room or self contained accommodation. It must be available for at least 6 months, fit for people to live in, and suitable for the number of people.

Government guidance on Homes for Ukraine refers to the sponsor as the host and the Ukrainian national as the guest.

Housing costs

Guidance states that the host should not charge rent. They can ask for a contribution towards utilities. Hosts are offered a 'thank you' payment by the government.

Guests under the scheme are not liable for council tax. If the host receives the single person discount, this is not affected.[1]

As no rent is payable, the guest cannot claim housing benefit or the housing costs element of universal credit. They might be able to claim universal credit for other living costs, for example if they want to contribute towards bills. Find out more about the universal credit claims process.

If the host is struggling due to additional costs, for example energy bills, they could contact the local authority to ask for assistance. Local authorities have been given additional funding to help people resettled from Ukraine.

If the host asks the guest to leave

A guest under the Homes for Ukraine scheme is likely to be an excluded occupier. This is the case if they either:

• live with the person who gives them permission to stay

• pay no rent or rent in kind

The host can give the guest reasonable notice to leave the property. At the end of the notice, the guest can be excluded from the property without a court order or legal proceedings.

The guidance states that hosts should notify the local authority and give at least two months' notice. This is not a legal requirement. Some local authorities might offer financial incentives to the host to allow the person to stay.

Gov.uk has guidance for local authorities on unreasonable behaviour by guests. This covers their responsibilities when a guest is asked to leave because of unreasonable behaviour, including criminal charges or convictions.

Finding alternative accommodation

Someone who has been asked to leave could look for a new host themselves. A person can look for a new host by contacting a recognised provider. The local authority might also be able to help find a new host.

If the person cannot find a new host, they could look for private rented accommodation. They can make a homeless application to the local authority if they are likely to become homeless in the next 56 days.

Someone resettled in the UK from Ukraine might need to make a homeless application to a local authority in England. For example, if a sponsorship placement breaks down.

When someone can apply as homeless

A local authority must accept a homeless application if it has reason to believe someone who approaches it might be homeless or threatened with homelessness.

A person is threatened with homelessness if it is likely they will become homeless in the next 56 days, or if they have been given a valid section 21 notice from a landlord that expires in the next 56 days.

Someone who has been living with a sponsor under the Homes for Ukraine scheme might be homeless or threatened with homelessness if:

• the host withdraws before the person arrives in the UK

• the local authority finds the accommodation is unsuitable

• the hosting arrangement breaks down

• the guest is asked to leave at the end of the initial six months

Use our interactive tool to check if someone is legally homeless or threatened with homelessness.

Eligibility for homelessness assistance

Someone with leave under one of the resettlement schemes is likely to be eligible for homelessness assistance.

A person who left Ukraine because of the Russian invasion is eligible for assistance if they:[2]

• were residing in Ukraine immediately before 1st January 2022

• have been given leave in accordance with the Immigration Rules

• are not subject to a no recourse to public funds condition

Leave granted under the Ukraine Family Scheme, the Homes for Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme and the Ukraine Extension Scheme is leave within the Immigration Rules.[3]

Someone who applied from within the UK and has limited leave to remain under Appendix Ukraine Scheme of the Immigration Rules is also eligible. [4]

People granted leave under the schemes do not have to be habitually resident in the Common Travel Area.[5]

Leave granted under the schemes before 30 March 2022 was leave outside the rules, which the regulations refer to as exceptional leave to remain. A person granted leave under the schemes before 30 March 2022 is eligible for homelessness assistance.

Priority need and emergency accommodation

A local authority must secure interim accommodation if it has reason to believe a person might:[6]

• be homeless

• be eligible based on their immigration status

• have a priority need

Some people have an automatic priority need. For example, if they have dependant children or someone in the household is pregnant.

Other people only have a priority need if they are vulnerable due to their health, background or other reason.

Find out more about who has a priority need when applying as homeless.

Duties to prevent and relieve homelessness

When a local authority is satisfied that a person is eligible for assistance, and homeless or threatened with homelessness within 56 days, it must assess the person’s housing needs and draw up a personalised housing plan.

If the person is threatened with homelessness, the authority has a duty to take reasonable steps to help prevent them becoming homeless. This is called the prevention duty.

If the person is already homeless, the authority has a duty to take reasonable steps to help them secure accommodation for at least six months. This is called the relief duty.

Intentional homelessness

A local authority can decide someone is intentionally homeless if they deliberately did something or failed to do something that led to them losing accommodation that would otherwise have been available and reasonable to occupy.

Someone who left accommodation in Ukraine because of the Russian invasion is unlikely to be intentionally homeless from that accommodation.

Where a sponsorship arrangement or a short term arrangement with family has broken down, this might not be considered accommodation that was reasonable to occupy in the medium or long term.

Local connection

A local authority can look into whether a person applying as homeless has a local connection to the area. If they do not have a local connection, it can refer to them to another local authority area where they do have a connection. It cannot refer them to an area where someone in the household would be at risk of violence or abuse.

A person can have a local connection through:

• normally residing in the area

• having close family in the area

• being employed in the area

• other special circumstances

If someone currently lives in the local authority area with a sponsor or family member, they are likely to be treated as normally residing in the area.

The main housing duty

If the local authority is unsuccessful in finding someone suitable accommodation under the relief duty, the main housing duty arises if the authority is satisfied the person has a priority need and is not intentionally homeless.

The local authority must provide suitable accommodation until the duty can be discharged, usually through an offer of social housing or private rented accommodation.

Challenging a negative decision

A person might be able to seek judicial review in the High Court if the local authority either:

• refuses to accept a homeless application

• takes an application but refuses to provide interim accommodation

A person can ask for an internal review if the local authority provides a written decision that it does not have to help. For example, if it says the person does not have a priority need. Find out more about internal reviews of homelessness decisions.

Challenges to homelessness decisions are in scope for legal aid. The person should get advice from a solicitor or housing adviser.

Any accommodation offered under a homeless application must be suitable for the needs of the person and their household. This includes emergency accommodation.

Factors that might make a property unsuitable include:

• the size of the accommodation

• the condition, including any hazards

• whether it is affordable

There are different rules for people who apply within two years of arriving in the UK. This is likely to affect many people who apply as homeless after being resettled in the UK from Ukraine.

Location

A local authority does not have to take location into account when assessing suitability if the applicant applied as homeless within two years of their arrival in the UK.[7] This includes any disruption to education or employment due to travel.

The authority must consider possible disruption to any caring responsibilities of the applicant or their household for someone with whom there are family associations. For example, an elderly parent who lives separately in the authority’s area. Authorities should still try to secure accommodation in its own area as far as is reasonably practical.

Local authorities should consider how children who have experienced trauma as refugees might be affected by a move away from family and friends. The nature of the resettlement scheme might mean that someone has ties to a particular area. For example, where a family has come to the UK through the Ukraine Family Scheme and are compelled to move away from the family member who sponsored them.

Use of bed and breakfast

Local authorities can usually only accommodate someone who is pregnant or has dependent children in bed and breakfast accommodation for a maximum of six weeks.[8] Bed and breakfast means accommodation which is not separate, self-contained premises and where a toilet, personal washing facilities or cooking facilities are shared between more than one household.

This rule does not apply where a person makes a homeless application within two years of their arrival in the UK.[9]

People with children or where someone in the household is pregnant should still only be placed in bed and breakfast if no other suitable accommodation is available. Bed and breakfast might be unsuitable for a range of reasons. For example, if the person has a disability and the size, layout or condition of the accommodation makes it unsuitable. If there are inadequate cooking facilities, the accommodation might be unaffordable.

Bed and breakfast and sponsorship arrangements

From 1 June 2022 the definition of bed and breakfast does not include accommodation provided in a private dwelling.[10] This allows a local authority to secure accommodation for a person under a homelessness duty in someone’s private home. The accommodation would not be subject to the restrictions on use of bed and breakfast.

This would be likely to apply where a local authority discharges a homelessness duty by helping someone find a new sponsorship arrangement under the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

Someone with leave under one of the resettlement schemes is likely to be eligible for an allocation of social housing.

An allocation includes where a local authority:

• selects the person to be an introductory or secure tenant

• nominates the person to be a tenant of another local authority

• nominates a person to be a tenant of a private registered provider of social housing

A person with leave granted under Appendix Ukraine Scheme of the Immigration Rules is eligible for an allocation if they have recourse to public funds.[11]

Each local authority has an allocations scheme that sets out who qualifies for an allocation and who is given priority. This might include a requirement that a person has been resident in the area for a set period of time, for example two years. This type of local residence requirement might mean that many people resettled in the UK from Ukraine do not qualify under their local authority's allocation scheme.

A person might need to move to private rented accommodation if a sponsorship or family arrangement comes to an end. This is likely to be the main longer term housing option for many people.

The government has translated the easy read version of its How to Rent guide into Ukrainian and Russian.

Right to rent checks

Private landlords must carry out right to rent checks for every adult who will occupy a property. A person with leave under one of the resettlement schemes has the right to rent. A person has a time limited right to rent if they have leave to remain in the UK for a set period.

A landlord can carry out the check online if the person has a biometric residence card or permit. They can manually check documents if the person has other documents relating to their status.

If a person's documents are with the Home Office, the landlord can request a Home Office right to rent check. The person must provide the landlord or agent with the Home Office reference number. If the Home Office does not respond within two working days of the request, the landlord can treat this as if the Home Office had issued confirmation that the person has a right to rent.

Find out more about right to rent immigration checks.

Upfront costs of renting

Landlords usually ask for a tenancy deposit and rent in advance.

A local authority might have a rent deposit or guarantee scheme. Some schemes pay a deposit in cash to the landlord. Others provide the landlord with a written guarantee that the scheme will cover unpaid rent or property damage.

Someone who claims universal credit might be able to apply for a budgeting advance to pay rent in advance. A budgeting advance is an interest free loan from the DWP. The person or their partner usually must have claimed universal credit or another means tested benefit for six months.

A person who receives housing benefit or the housing costs element of universal credit can apply for a discretionary housing payment from their local authority. This would not be an option for someone living with a sponsor who does not currently pay rent.

Landlords and agents cannot require a prospective tenant to pay other fees, for example for administration. There is an exception for payments made by a local authority. This allows local authorities to make additional payments to landlords as an incentive for taking on a tenant.[12]

Guarantors

A landlord might ask for a guarantor. This is sometimes the case if a person has no renting history in the UK. A guarantor agrees to pay a tenant's rent if they fail to pay it. If the tenant does not meet their financial obligations, the guarantor can be pursued for payment.

There are no rules about who can be a guarantor. In practice, guarantors are more likely to be accepted if they have a good income or are a homeowner. A friend or relative might act as a guarantor.

A local authority can be a guarantor for someone it owes a housing duty to. Alternatively, a landlord might waive a guarantor requirement if the local authority offers an incentive payment or additional support.

Find out more about guarantors for tenancy agreements.