Living next to asylum seeker HMO, ask me anything

Exactly, these are not funded by any one government, they are funded whether Conservatives or Labour are in power.

Or maybe you are conflating asylum seekers with refugees (as do many)? Asylum seekers are not recourse to UC or other 'traditional' benefits. Where are you seeing all of these people that gives you insight into their immigration and financial status?

I am sorry if I am calling you a liar but the British Army were definitely there when I was there 1985 to 1988. Not quite as old as General Gordon but certainly one of the boats he used was still rotting in the Nile while we were there. They had been there since before we were and after we left. My husband worked for British Overseas Aid and I worked for the EEC. Why do you think you are so correct and not spouting arrant nonsense yourself.

I don't have any issue with people having a negative opinion, but just don't make yourself look stupid in the process. Anyone who adds "funded by the government" constantly to describe things or ideologies they don't like are generally not that clever. Whether it's motability cars, asylum seekers, weight loss injections, methadone etc etc, there's just no need. Just say why you don't like it, most people know that there is some sort of government subsidy (perhaps not the case in motability scheme), there's no need to say it for dramatic affect.

The DWP themselves say you can only claim benefits if you're given refugee status i.e. asylum seekers can't claim benefits.

Are you confusing asylum seekers with refugees?

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/claiming-universal-credit-and-other-benefits-if-you-are-a-refugee/refugee-guide-urgent-things-you-need-to-do

Perhaps their claims are fraudulent then? I see people 5 days a week who are both asylum seekers and in receipt of universal credit. The only way this might not be true is if they are lying to us (although their info does get checked upon referral) or a miscommunication? Unlikely to be happening multiple times every day, though.

Interestingly doing some reading about MEARS and its directors.

The private company, Mears Group plc was founded in 1988 in Gloucestershire, England. It was established as a maintenance contractor specifically focused on providing maintenance and repair services to the social housing sector.

This was at a time with a Conservative government and Thatcherite local government reform driven by privatisation, Compulsory Competitive Tendering (CCT), and the rollout of New Public Management.

Bob Holt, served as its long-time chairman and CEO before retiring from the board in January 2019, has previously referenced working closely with key Conservative Party figures early in his career, especially Lord Ashcroft (the former Conservative Party Chairman and prominent donor) at his ADT security firm. Holt cited Ashcroft as a major entrepreneurial inspiration for building up Mears

Mears net profit end of 2025 is £46.2 million.

There is a board of 37 officers, including Dame Claire Tickell who has a background in the social housing sector.

For balance Mears do have a foundation offering grants to disadvantaged and vulnerable communities.

I am sorry if I am calling you a liar but the British Army were definitely there when I was there 1985 to 1988. Not quite as old as General Gordon but certainly one of the boats he used was still rotting in the Nile while we were there. They had been there since before we were and after we left. My husband worked for British Overseas Aid and I worked for the EEC. Why do you think you are so correct and not spouting arrant nonsense yourself.

I'm not involved in deciding who gets benefits but we ask as part of the information we take and the number one answer is universal credit, no matter who comes to us, it doesn't matter what term is on their visa or residency permit.

People have different opinions.

You say "I personally am more than happy".

Other people are not.

You can describe their opinions as hatred, they can judge you as a bad person for that too. Millions do.

well I knew. I remember when the program started and the fuss it caused.

Yes, that's part of the asylum seeker act. Most people should know this and not have to add "funded by the government" after every statement. No one refers to schools or NHS constantly as "funded by the government" when they speak of their child's school or hospital appointment. This addendum is purely for inciting otherness and hatred.

Sort of off topic but this is surprising (horrifying) to me. When they made all the new rules about how a property must be before it can be rented out, why were fire/security walls between loft spaces not included? This might be worth it's own thread.
Thanks for posting OP. Do they seem to be friendly between themselves when of apparently different nationalities, and do other asylum seekers come to visit and party with them?
What do your other neighbours think?

If you believe the OP of course…

So still funded by the government then

I think there are some things you could make up, and conveniently finding a home office letter in your front guardian explaining your neighbours situation in detail so you have the information to share on Mumsnet is probably one of them.

Good to know our wonderfully efficient Home Office is giving criminals plenty of polite forewarning that they are about to be rounded up and deported from that address. As much as paying them £2k to leave sticks in my craw, I can't imagine it attracts many takers when it probably cost them more to get here in the first place and all they need to do is move on and set up as someone completely new in the next city with the next absolute sucker of a case worker. Then they can earn that 2k a month working illegally for Deliver-Fucking-Roo.

Honestly, you couldn't make it up. I think we are getting pretty close to a mass, collective short circuit of absolute apoplectic rage in this country. I don't know how many more big news stories of some atrocity committed by one of these people we can take before all hell will be unleashed.

All you are actually doing is semantics about the word benefit.

The OP hasn’t returned today, despite starting what was supposed to be an AMA…

Has it changed your views on the small boats immigration? Regardless of what your views were before having these HMO as neighbours ?

I didn't put two and two together until just now. There's been a big increase in Mears vans here in my town in the past year and the number of migrants.

Who wants to bet that the Census 2031 won't go ahead because "it's too expensive"?

When I bought my terraced house six years ago, my solicitor who was dealing with the purchase INSISTED that I check there was proper solid walling between my house and next door, because of fire. A fire in one house will run straight through the roof spaces and if there's no walling to hold it up, all the houses can go up in one big inferno.

Fortunately for me I have very solid walling as this is a very old house. But for anyone with shared lofts it might be worth checking your house insurance, because it only takes one person much further down the street to have a minor fire break out upstairs and your house can burn down and your insurance is invalid (because of the 'shared' loft space).

I worked in allocations in a local housing authority and you would not believe how many "desperate" families on the waiting list reject properties. No garden, garden too small for their dog, bedrooms aren't big enough, kitchen is open plan with living room, needs decorating, property isn't a new build. In our LA a good proportion of new build social housing is now apartments and you can hardly give away a 3 bed one because everyone says they want a house. All on the priority emergency list I will add, in temporary accommodation. The sense of entitlement is unreal, and the same people who just refused a offer will swear blind that only foreigners get offers.

Honestly it's one of those things I'm used to as it's common in the houses where I live, but when I think about it it is very weird!
The houses all have high ceilings and narrow stairwells so accessing the lofts is usually precarious so I think because I've so rarely gone into them I haven't thought about it too much. It wouldn't be legal on a newer house due to fire safety obviously.

Not sure I’d like that!