Living next to asylum seeker HMO, ask me anything

This is such a fascinating insight into the realities of immigration. Thanks for sharing your experiences op. From your description of when you first lived there, a supportive working class community of families with a school and a church, it sounds like you’ve been there many years. Do you have family of your own who support you in dealing with this? Can you get help with making your loft secure and can you ever get away for a few days respite with relatives? The picture I get is that you’re quite alone in this situation, which feels desolate. I hope you can pursue the idea of the council buying your house, it seems like the most realistic and stress free option. Providing you get a realistic price of course, which allows you to find another home where you can live relatively peacefully. What a sad state the country is in. Where would you go if you could live anywhere?

Christ, it sounds very dystopian. (If that’s the right word?)

Shocking. As is your statistic covering the number of properties that have been converted from family homes to HMOs

I'll bet that Lib Dem councillor and his family don't live in the streets which are all filled with refugee men. Awful, awful.

Have you or your neighbours ever raised the issues with your local MP? If so, how did they respond?

Same happening where I live, I have a similar situation to op with two houses on my terraced street housing 5/6 men.

The back alley outside my home has been taken over and treat like an extension of the house, they set up plastic sofas and chairs, bbq, caravan out there at the moment too.
Same nocturnal pattern OP mentions, it’s happening now as I speak. Every night and the antisocial ones will just laugh in your face if you ask them to keep the noise down.

They dump their rubbish in the bushes at the end of the street or in other peoples back yards.

I’ve had men staring in windows several times, face pressed against the glass type of staringC I keep my curtains and blinds closed all day now, most of the street do.

Reports to council etc have done nothing. Police dont care, and it very much does feel like communities like mine have been pushed under the bus, not just by people who think everyone is lying about it, but also by the local thugs with their own domestic violence convictions who treat Tommy Robinson like some kid of god. Both types of men have me feeling scared and vulnerable, it’s just I get don’t get called racist when I say I’m scared of the ex convicts or the young lads with knives on bikes with balaclavas.

It's absolutely dreadful. Dreadful that swathes of family homes are creating areas which are frightening for women to live in alone. The fact the council are willing to buy it from you says it all - I've never heard of that so I would grab that opportunity and make sure they pay market value before the HMO started accepting refugees. Completely accept that becoming a landlord is tricky - we have a number of properties we rent out and it's becoming more and more complex. Best of luck x

(No wonder we can’t sleep)

I feel for you OP.

4 or 5 HMOs on my terraced street - opposite and a few doors up (all appeared within last 5 years since I moved here) a couple of which are leased to the council to people like ex offenders, rough sleepers, mental health, and asylum seekers - all men aged 20-50 by the look of them. I was threatened by one resident that he would kill me and my kids and burn our house down :( witnessed a violent attack outside my house. Blood stain still on pavement. Hear drug deals daily, see people wandering up and down trying to get drugs, people pissing in street. People watching us as we sit in garden. Fly tipping and rubbish outside the houses, nobody cares. The loft thing is terrifying and I need to check now!

Is your house big enough to be turned into an HMO? Could you do the same and then use the rent money to finance a move . . . unless the council are prepared to buy it from you.

I'm sorry you're going through this - it sounds truly frightening. What part of the country are you in (obviously roughly)?

Some older terraced properties have a communal roof space. That means you can get from one end of the terrace to the other by walking through the roof space.
It's also possible to enter other properties via the roof hatches if they aren't secured from below.

Re none of them mentioning war, it is worth remembering that in a country that is not at war, a person can be at very real risk of being murdered by government forces.

My mum volunteered as a befriender for some Syrian refugees, families fleeing the civil war who came to Britain via legal routes.

Quite a few of them complained about the quality of the houses they were given. Seemed a bit cheeky to me. I’m sure a lot of unhoused British families would have been glad to have one of those homes!

Nothing to ask, but feel sorry for you. This would be my worse nightmare….

OP, if there were a snap election tomorrow, which party would get your vote?

Haha.

Seriously, count me as another worried about your loft access. I wish you would raise this with your local authority.

Does the landlord have an HMO licence? (It will be listed on your council website).