Good Morning.
I’ve just had a viewing interest in my property by some Ukrainian people. I have a selective licence which only allows family members plus one stranger,and they are saying they are 3 married couples, all relatives, there are not any students, they all work full time with a combined monthly income of £15,400.
They apparently have a Biometric Residence Permit(BRP) until October 2026
I’ve don’t really know the rules regarding renting to Ukrainian people and I know they only have short visa to remain and do I trust they are all related.
Has any landlords rented to Ukrainian people any advice would be helpful as I’ve only ever rented to previous tenants with indefinite leave to remain.
Thanks very much
Short visa sounds unreliable, regardless of legalities. Also, how easy it will be for them to move in, never pay the rent and then move out of the country. At the same time you will have to go through months and months of eviction process. Are you prepared for this risk? How much you rely on rental income from your property? Do you have significant savings if things go pearshape?
In addition to the HMO issues which seem impossible to overcome, if you want to go ahead you need to ask them to get you a share code from the Home Office for each person which you then check to see if they are allowed to rent. If they don’t do this then you could get in big trouble renting to them.
Has Colin as said, this would create a HMO, there is so much to take into account with these, and extra legislation to think about. HMO’S ar potentially a good way to make a lot of money, but it could end up costing you more than you make if you get things wrong.
Do some research on HMO before you even consider this.
Hang on a sec, the OP says they are “all relatives”. If they are related to the correct degree, it should not create a HMO. Check Housing Act 2004 : If they are “parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece or cousin;” etc then it’s a single household, despite being three couples. Of course, you need to be confident of that. It’s easy to say you are related. You need to know what the council would regard as sufficient due diligence on your part, to avoid penalties if it was not true.
Jenna1, I think youve misunderstood the terms of your selective licence. One family plus one stranger is 2 households and at least 3 people which = an HMO. it might not require an HMO licence with 3 or 4 people, (you should check), but it will still be an HMO and subject to all the management regulations. If it gets to 5 people and 2 households then its mandatory licensable.
Youve said theyre all related, which would make it one household and NOT an HMO, but you need evidence of that in case of a later problem. A signed letter by the tenants stating their relationship would do.
A collective income of £15600 is likely to fail on affordability unless your rent is particularly low or theyre entitled to benefits as a top-up.
Jenna, that gross income figure works out at an average of £49 p.p. per WEEK earnings! No one would get out of bed for that per DAY! Are they working for a legitimate employer (or friend)? Either way, the “employer” would be breaking the law on minimum pay levels, let alone them struggle to live/pay bills, even with benefit support or LHA.
I’d certainly be looking at asking numerous Q’s - or move on to one without the degree of potential risks.
Cheers for putting me right, Colin - sorry, my mistake! … missed the word ‘monthly’ and assumed it was p.a. [Apologies, Jenna, ignore my comment, which was definitely not realistic!].
Ukrainians in the UK on a Homes 4 Ukraine scheme have visas for 3 years. they are entitled to rent, claim benefits & are disregarded persons for council tax. They will have access to share codes for right to rent. At present, the Govt has not suggested what the situation might be at the end of the 3 years - which for most will be 2025.
Ukrainians on the Families scheme have different visas & anyone who was in the UK at the time of the Russian invasion on another type of visa has a different situation with visas requiring regard extensions.
I think the problem here is the HMO issue. Even if they are related I think you are in HMO territory.
