What are the legal considerations for someone planning to host refugees?

Tuttlinghorn

I'm not entirely sure what questions to ask .. so this might be difficult to answer!

I think my basic question is:

Since we are essentially becoming 'landlords' but without any contract and without any payment / rent arrangement, what rights do our 'tenants' acquire once they move in? and what are our rights ?

Or am i incorrect and there is no landlord-tenant relationship implied just because people will stay in our house as our guests for an indeterminate amount of time?

if you are answering (thank you!) it would be great if you could be clear whether you are offering an 'educated guess' or you have actual experience as a legal professional in this area. I realise that this is not going to be formal legal advice

context below, if it helps:

We're planning to host a number of ukrainian refugees in our family home.

We have met the people, they are in the country and once furniture/beds etc are sorted they will move in. They seem very nice and I don't expect any issues between us.

But at the same time .. I feel like I should at least be aware of the legalities of this new situation. we have zero experience as landlords. If our circumstances change in some drastic way, or our guests turn out to be wildly problematic ... will we be able to ask them to leave (obviously helping them find alternate accommodation etc.)?

While we are registered with the Red Cross, this has been arranged via another route and so I do not have a caseworker that I can ask these questions to. I have searched for any 'pre-cooked' answers on the IRC site, Law Society site, immigration council Citizensinfo but nothing so far..

Tuttlinghorn

Just giving this a bump in case anyone has a clue ?

water-man

I think this is a good question and people who are thinking of taking in people need to be aware of before doing so. I too am thinking of taking people in but I'm unsure what is the longer term plan. It is not like the people will be staying only 5 or 6 weeks it is more likely that things in Ukraine are not going to change for a long time. Do we as a country have a long term plan?

Tuttlinghorn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118882031#Comment_118882031

I'm expecting minimum 1 year and possibly more. Most likely we do not have a long term plan as a country, so in some respects and at minimum it will be down to me and these people to figure it out. Right now however, the presence or absence of a plan at country level doesn't change things for me - they have been in the country over 20 days now and need help.

Peregrinus

It's hard to make any kind of a long-term plan because we don't know how even the short term will unfold. As soon as there is an end to fighting in Ukraine the great majority of the refugees will likely wish to return, but we have no idea when that will be.

The legal question is an interesting one. I think the correct analysis is that refugees who you accommodate in your home are licensees, not tenants, and they do not have the rights that tenants would normally have. I don't know if people are entering into any contract or formal arrangement with the Red Cross or a similar agency to accommodate refugees; if so, that may say something about how or when the arrangement can be terminated. If there's nothing, then I think the strict legal position is that you can ask them to leave at any time; it is human decency, not the law, which would be the main constraint on that.

Be interesting to know if the insurance industry has made any statement about the position of refugee/guests under home insurance policies. Do you need to notify your insurer if you are accommodating refugees in your home?

Tuttlinghorn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118882156#Comment_118882156

Ref the insurance - we notified the home insurers (Zurich in our case). This is now noted on the policy, no additional charge. No idea if we needed to do it or not / implications if we had not done so!

Thank you for your comments on licencee vs tenant. no idea on the approach via Red Cross though I will try to find that out, as you say it may shed some light.

zoe 3619

Not really much help as I'm not housing anyone,but I did recieve a message from the insurance company I use for the car.30 days for a Ukrainian named driver on the policy free if they have full licence and an extra €5000 added to home insurance for anyone hosting.

Tuttlinghorn

i came across this question which i posted some time back. Just in case anyone is checking this thread and is considering hosting refugees - here is my experience having hosted a family for about 6 months.

It was great, and we would do it again. And I'd recommend to others.

Perhaps we were 'lucky' in the people that stayed with us but we found it to be a positive experience and we just 'got on with things'. Having some separate spaces helped, as did a (shared) sense of humour, and patience. We did not set any rules or set boundaries to 'protect' our own family time - in the end it was not needed. From my knowledge of other families like us - we got lucky and i would say that others should really consider this in order to ensure that living arrangements are sustainable if you think there is even the slightest risk that you could feel encroached upon. This is something that could be broached early on, or something that you discuss if you feel that the living arrangements are not working out.

Trust was important too, and we just started with the assumption that we had to trust our guests or this could not work. And for them, I guess it was the same. This went as far as us taking summer holidays while our guests stayed in the house.

It worked, in spite of the obvious differences - different backgrounds, city dwellers staying with us in the countryside, language barriers, and for our guests - their worries about people left behind, missing home and worries for their own future.

In the end, they left Ireland and returned home a couple of months back. Missing home was too much, the possibility to send a child back to school in September and trying to go back to a semblance of normality meant they saw the risk being worth it. This was before Iranian drones, or Cruise missile attacks on energy infrastructure. They know that there is still a bed for them if they need it and we will reassess after Christmas whether to keep that offer open or again offer space in our home to different people.

As i wrote above, it was a positive experience for us and i would recommend to others.