We understand that many individuals and companies across the UK are playing their part to help the people affected by the crisis in Ukraine.
It goes without saying that we fully support the UK Governments implementation of the ‘Homes for Ukraine’ scheme and the individuals and companies who are prepared to open their homes and provide shelter for Ukrainian refugees.
However, a change in occupancy can affect the insurance provided for a property and with that in mind, we would like to clarify how the ‘Homes for Ukraine’ scheme affects Folgate’s insurance policies:
Residential Property (currently occupied)
Landlords and property owners do not need to tell us if they have allowed their existing tenants to share their homes with Ukrainian refugees temporarily under the government scheme. Ukrainian refugees will be treated as members of the existing tenants friends and family and therefore such arrangements do not contravene our ‘no sub-letting’ acceptance criteria.
In addition, landlords and property owners will not need to undertake usual tenant referencing and identification requirements under our property owners’ products. To clarify, the following are not required for Ukrainian refugees only:
– credit references
– formal identification
For the avoidance of doubt, the ‘thank you’ payment from the government of £350 per month will not be considered as rent and is therefore not insurable under the Loss of Rent section of our policies.
If any Residential Property owners’ policy is due for renewal within the first 12 months of refugees living in the property, then landlords and property owners will not need to tell us. If, after 12 months, any individuals or family are still living in the property, then the landlords and property owners need to tell us when the policy is next due for renewal.
Residential Property (unoccupied)
Landlords and property owners offering properties that would otherwise be unoccupied must tell us that they are now intending to house refugees. Our property owners policies restrict the cover available when a property is unoccupied and so it is important that landlords and property owners tell us about the change in occupancy so that they can benefit from full policy cover.
There will be no increase in the policy premium payable during the first 12 months of refugees living in the insured property.
In any case as above, the ‘thank you’ payment from the government of £350 per month will not be considered as rent and is therefore not insurable under the Loss of Rent section of our policies.
Other Commercial Property
Whilst we anticipate the governments scheme to only impact residential property owners, there may be some circumstances in which a commercial property might be affected, for example a hotel offering its rooms to house refugees.
Whilst we are doing all we can to support our policyholders, it is important that any property which is normally commercially occupied is referred to our underwriting team for full consideration if it is intended to be used as housing or shelter for Ukrainian refugees.
We can not confirm any cover in place for commercial properties without our underwriters prior written agreement.
Contact Us
Folgate are dedicated to help provide solutions as much as possible during this difficult time.
Please contact our SME team:
Scott Higgs / 020 7256 3414 / Scott.Higgs@folgateltd.com
Sarah Geddes / 020 8187 8864 / Sarah.Geddes@folgateltd.com
Chris Sharp / 020 7256 3446 / Chris.Sharp@folgateltd.com
Or Property Owners team::
Sarah Bonner / 020 7256 3416 / sarah.bonner@folgateltd.com
Joe Ansell / 020 8187 8861 / joe.ansell@folgateltd.com