After your arrival and meeting your host, it’s very important that you ask questions and agree on how you will manage your relationship. Keep talking to each other. This is your host’s home, but it's also your home.
Your host will:
It might be useful to agree on mealtimes, so you and your host know what to expect. Your host may provide food, but this is up to you both to agree.
Please agree carefully with your host about what is okay to share, like coffee or milk, and what food they’d prefer not to share. Your host may give you a space to keep your own food.
Your host should not ask you to pay rent. They might ask for a contribution for household utility bills and towards any shared food.
Your host will give you access to a bathroom. If your host is working, they may expect to use the bathroom at set times – check with your host so you know each other’s needs.
It’s useful to discuss and agree on considerate noise levels at certain times of the day.
You should agree with your host on what cleaning to do.
You are entitled to have visitors to see you. Agree this with your host in advance. Let your host know if you are going to be away for a while, and when you expect to be back.
Your host may expect you not to smoke inside the home, even in your room. You should respect that.
A carbon monoxide detector should be in your room.
If anything is broken, or if you break anything, please let your host know.
It may take a while for you and your host to settle in and become familiar with each other – this is to be expected.
Your host will think about what you might need and offer you support. However, they should allow you to make decisions for yourselves.
Your host will be gentle and patient. They will not expect you to talk about what you might have been through, nor will your host expect to take pictures of you. They should respect your privacy.
To communicate, your host might be able to use translation tools like Google Translate or Microsoft Translator.
Your host will want to introduce you to local services and practical community support. For example, offering to help you register with a doctor soon after arrival. Refer to the rest of the guide to get yourself started.
We hope that you and your host will be able to resolve the differences between you. Expectations of each other may be different – it’s important to work things out.
Your host understands that things may be difficult for you. Your host should never expect you to leave without enough time to organise somewhere else to live.
If you have a problem you can’t resolve or have any concerns about your safety:
Read our Homes for Ukraine Sponsorship scheme privacy notice.
Guests can stay with a host for up to 3 years under the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
As the thank you payment is linked to guests, your host will receive the payment for up to 3 years from the time you arrived in the UK, not the time you begin your stay in their property.
We can support you with finding a new host if you cannot stay with your current host after the first 6 months.
Our Community Hub team will look to rematch you with another host on our expression of interest list. These are people who have applied for the scheme and agreed that we can contact them.
You would live with the host in their home or a separate self-contained property offered by the host. This is dependent on the type of property offered by the host, along with the number of guests and your ages.
There are refugee charities that can help you to find a new host. You can find a host privately through these charitable organisations:
If we cannot find a suitable host for you, we will make a referral to our Housing Advice team. They will then look at the other options available to prevent homelessness.
You can find more information about the renting process and your rights as a tenant on our housing advice for private tenants webpage.
You can also find more detailed guidance on renting in England on GOV.UK.
The average cost of renting a 2 bedroom home in Brighton & Hove is currently £1,200 to £1,500 per calendar month. You may also find cheaper rents in other towns in the area.
You can find information on how to search for properties on our how to find a home to rent webpage.
The private rental sector in Brighton & Hove is a very competitive market. The time it will take to find a suitable property will depend on property size, area and the time of year. Things like the start of the academic year (August to October) can mean many more people are looking for private rented accommodation.
We use the Local Housing Allowance to work out both Housing Benefit and the Universal Credit housing element.
Local housing allowance is not a separate benefit. It affects how much help you get with rent.
More information is available on our Weekly Housing Benefit rates for private tenants webpage.
If you're in receipt of Universal Credit or Housing Benefit, you can apply for a discretionary payment to help pay your rent in advance before you move.
The council can help with housing deposits through the Deposit Guarantee Scheme. We take into account the homeless prevention duty and your housing plan.
If you have found accommodation by yourself, we can speak with the landlord to negotiate a Deposit Guarantee Scheme.
The council cannot act as a guarantor.
If you're in receipt of Universal Credit or Housing Benefit, you can apply for a discretionary payment to help pay your rent in advance before you move.
If you're threatened with homelessness, contact us to get advice as soon as possible. We can support you with any problems making it difficult to stay in your home.
The homeless prevention and housing options help we provide includes:
If homelessness is possible within 56 days, we'll work with you to develop a personal housing plan.
Our aim will be to help continue your current accommodation where possible. We will speak with your hosts or accommodation provider to try and resolve issues.
If this is not possible, we will work with you to find a sustainable accommodation option.
If a Homelessness Prevention Officer has referred you to our Direct Lets team, they will help you find accommodation.
Council Tax is a form of local taxation. It;s charged on all domestic properties and goes towards paying for local services.
The Council Tax account will need to be registered in your name, not the hosts. You can then apply for a 50% discount disregard and for Council Tax reduction.
The Council Tax account needs to be registered in your name. You can then apply for a 50% discount disregard and for Council Tax reduction.
If you're living in private rented accommodation and the Council Tax account is registered in your name, you can apply for the 50% discount disregard.
If you fit into any of the above 3 categories you can apply for a 50% discount. To request this, send an email to Ukrainian.support@brighton-hove.gov.uk.