Super Sponsor Scheme and Homes for Ukraine: guidance for local authorities

Role of sponsor/host

Hosts are required to:

• agree to an enhanced Disclosure Scotland check, this includes an ID check. Where providing accommodation within their own homes, checks are needed on all adults (aged over 16 years) in the household, including students returning to their permanent residence in between terms
• agree to a home visit undertaken by a local authority officer/contractor in order to assess the suitability of the accommodation offered
• contact their mortgage lender for further information where they are homeowners with a mortgage. Some lenders have made guidance available on their websites
• check their tenancy agreement and get permission of their landlord before agreeing to participate in the scheme where they are tenants in rented accommodation
• be aware of any existing terms that might apply to non-paying guests within your insurance policy and contact your insurer if you wish to discuss their cover or other changes in circumstances. (Insurers have agreed that homeowners offering accommodation to people displaced from Ukraine normally do not need to contact their home insurance provider as they are considered non-paying guests)
• provide suitable accommodation for a minimum of 6 months
• support and help guests to adapt to life in the UK, initially checking if they have enough food and supplies such as toiletries, along with checking if they have access to a mobile phone and internet to stay in touch with family members
• help direct their guests to public services, for example, registering with a GP or NHS dentist

Hosts who are not a part of the Scottish Super Sponsor scheme are responsible for staying in contact with their guest prior to their arrival to help organise and coordinate their arrival in the UK, meet them on arrival, and facilitate transfer to their accommodation. They are also responsible for signposting the guest to public services and assist them with tasks such as registering with a local GP surgery.

Under the Super Sponsor scheme guests will not require to be met as they will be accommodated at Welcome Hubs while longer term accommodation is arranged.

Landlord registration

Accommodation used under an occupancy arrangement (not a lease) by a person under the Homes for Ukraine Sponsorship scheme (including the Scottish Super Sponsor scheme), does not constitute the use of a property for the purposes of landlord registration.

Occupancy agreement

We recommend that the host and the guest enter into a formal written agreement which sets out how the relationship is to operate in practice. As no rent is being paid by the guest, the occupancy arrangement will not constitute a tenancy so the statutory or common law rules on tenancies will not apply. It will be for the host and the guest to decide the terms of the occupancy agreement but it is recommended that any agreement, at minimum, provides for the following issues:

• where the guest is being accommodated in a self-contained property, the arrangements by which the host can access that property
• how the guest is to treat the property or that part of the property being occupied by the guest
• how the occupancy arrangement is to be brought to an end by either party