Housing options after a positive asylum decision

The immediate housing options of asylum seekers granted leave to remain will often depend upon their housing provider. In some cases they will be able to stay in their current accommodation after their asylum support has been withdrawn.[1]

All former asylum seekers who were supported by the UK Border Agency will lose their automatic right to occupy their accommodation when they are granted leave to remain in the UK.

At this point they will be able to approach their local authority to make a homeless application. Their local authority will then have a duty to provide them with temporary accommodation until it is able to decide whether it has a duty to provide permanent accommodation. (For more information, please see the section on applying as homeless.)

Those housed by Glasgow City Council (usually through flats leased from Glasgow Housing Association) should be visited by the City Council's Refugee Support Team, a specialist homeless Community Casework Team. The Refugee Support Team should advise former asylum seekers of the options they have with regards to securing accommodation.

When they are granted leave to remain, asylum seekers living in Glasgow Housing Association accommodation will often be given the opportunity to sign a temporary or permanent occupancy agreement relating either to their current home or another Glasgow Housing Association property.[2]

Temporary tenancies

A temporary occupancy agreement will allow the individual to remain in their current accommodation on a short-term basis. Accepting an offer of temporary accommodation allows the individual time to decide whether or not s/he wants to stay in Glasgow. Signing such an agreement does not prevent her/him from subsequently being classified as unintentionally homeless if s/he then decides to make a homelessness application in another local authority area. Further, the agreement will not create a local connection for her/him with Glasgow, unless s/he remains there for more than six months.[3]

By offering this accommodation, Glasgow City Council may be discharging its duty to provide temporary accommodation to the individual as a homeless person until permanent accommodation can be made available (if it is decided that the individual is eligible to receive permanent accommodation). For more information, please see the section on local authority's duty to provide temporary accommodation.

Failure to sign a temporary tenancy agreement in these circumstances, for the existing or an alternative property, may result in eviction from that property. The individual may then have to approach Glasgow City Council with regards to making a new application as homeless.

If the asylum seeker is living in asylum support accommodation that is not provided by Glasgow Housing Association or if their accommodation is unable to be used as temporary homeless accommodation, s/he will probably be served with notice to quit as soon as her/his asylum support stops. The asylum seeker should present her/himself as homeless to her/his local authority immediately.

The local authority will have a duty to provide her/him with temporary accommodation until it has determined whether s/he is eligible for permanent accommodation (for more information, please see the section on applying as homeless).

If s/he decides not to remain in Glasgow s/he should approach the City Council's Refugee Support Team with regards to making an application for homeless accommodation in another area.

Those individuals with leave to remain are entitled to apply to and be housed by registered social landlords. [4] Although individuals with leave to remain are also entitled to secure their own accommodation in the private rented sector, this will generally only be possible for those who have money available for a deposit and advance rent payments.