Following the commencement of the war in Ukraine, the UK Government announced the Homes for Ukraine scheme which offered compensation of £350 per month to anyone offering a room to a Ukrainian family seeking to escape the war.
Whilst there is a clear desire to help, there are difficulties and problems should landlords or even tenants seek to assist. Whilst, the Scottish Government has issued recent legislation that is designed to help, there remain a number of other potential difficulties facing landlords and tenants.
Landlord registration
The Private Landlord Registration (Modification)(Scotland) Order 2022 came into force on 12 May 2022. This order modifies the rules regarding application of landlord registration in certain specified circumstances. It does this by amending section 83(6) of the Anti-social Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 and adding another category of use of a property that is to be disregarded for the purpose of landlord registration. This will apply to any occupancy agreement whereby persons have been granted permission to enter or stay in the United Kingdom under the Homes for Ukraine sponsorship scheme. This will only apply in circumstances where there is an occupancy agreement in place and will not apply to leases or where it is a tenant (with the landlord’s agreement) that takes in a Ukrainian family.
Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs)
Whilst there may be a disapplication of the rules for landlord registration in certain circumstances, there has been no change in the rules for HMOs found in the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006. As such, landlords of properties already tenanted will have to be careful to ensure that, if they allow existing tenants to take in a Ukrainian family, these rules are not breached. That is, if the property is occupied by three or more persons who are not all members of the same family or of one or other of two families, then an HMO licence will be required. Whilst that technically only applies to situations where occupation “as an only or main residence,” and it could be argued such arrangements with Ukrainian families are temporary, care should still be taken as breach of the HMO rules would potentially incur criminal penalties for landlords.
Overcrowding
There are also statutory rules and limits on overcrowding in properties including the size of the room that can be used. Without going into specifics, these rules do not generally allow a single family to share a room unless the children are very young or to use smaller rooms in properties. That said, you can apply to the relevant local authority for permission to allow overcrowding, but that will only be granted in “exceptional circumstances” and for a maximum period of 12 months.
Safety requirements and the repairing standard
Clearly if the property is tenanted, it should meet the repairing standard as well as the tolerable standard. Even if an owner of a property, which is currently empty, decides to let it be used by a Ukrainian family without the payment of rent, as it is being used for the purposed of “human habitation” and not specifically excluded from that requirement, it will also need to meet those standards and all that entails.
Ultimately, it might be thought that, in the context of the crisis in Ukraine, any local authority may not be minded enforce all the rules that could apply, but without the Scottish Government taking more steps to remove such barriers and risks for landlords as well as local authorities being more open to relaxing their normal rules, all that is likely to happen is that there will be less properties available to those who need them to shelter from war in Ukraine.
If you require any further information or advice, please contact us.
