Living next to asylum seeker HMO, ask me anything

They will get their asylum seeker support allowance (approx £50 per week per adult if not in a hotel, in which case it's under £10 per week) until they are refused. Then they will get nothing. About 30 years ago there was a school mum in this situation, her husband worked about 80 hours a week cash in hand as a glass washer in a restaurant, paid cash to a landlord and lived extremely frugally. The dc were born here so there was some sort of rule that they couldn't kick the dc out and by default the parents either. I think after 6 years they got ILTR on that merit. It was a very difficult period of time, they were a lovely family too.
ETA: if you have been refused and stay on then you don't have a status so in theory no recourse to NHS or schools for children. They will treat you in an emergency situation but you will be billed for it. I don't think you can even register with a GP in this situation either.

You can register with a GP. Anyone living in the UK can - a tourist, an illegal immigrant, anyone. But you can only access primary and emergency care.

Well quite. People love to tangle others up in semantics and procedural timelines as a way of obfuscating and distracting from the argument, when they understand very well what overall point it is that those other people are making.

I am not naive enough to think it's that simple. Chat GPT almost never gives a definitive answer to anything. It tells you on the balance of probability, based on what it DOES know, whether something is likely or plausible, that's all.

You seem determined to prove that this letter is not likely or plausible though. What makes you better qualified than Chat GPT on this matter? Do you work for the Home Office in the specific areas of either asylum or illegal immigration?

If so then I'm sure we are all happy to defer to your in-depth knowledge of the system.

My partner worked for DWP and always debunks this. Illegal immigrants cannot claim benefits and they cannot legitimately work here either as they do not have the right to work. Illegal immigrants on benefits is a myth. But like Trump "truths", if it's repeated enough times it becomes fact.

So they are living in the woods off thin air ?

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.

@DownToTheGround
However, the other side of this is where would young people live to work locally. Young people often have to rent rooms in HMO’s as the cost of housing outweighs their earnings.
Will you campaign for change ? Where would you start with this? How would you make sure young people have a home?

We don't have young people (apart from immigrant men) or children in the street anymore. The nearest I found to a "resident child" is someone's 17 year old son. He wasn't impressed when I told him he'll be THE CHILD as and when required 😅

As long as housing the homeless, addicted and mentally ill pays more than housing those who are able and willing to contribute...This situation will grow and spread.
No one can force a Landlord to accept "professionals only" and no one can tell them to turn down and Asylum contract.
They are 5-7 year contracts, no voids, no tenant searches, no maintenance - just money in the account each month.
My community is getting exploited and destroyed for financial gain.

Young people... My street is a good example of how having every house available on a rent-a-room basis does eff all to give young people affordable homes to rent! It doesn't pay to house them!
In fact, it also takes away any chance of buying an affordable house here.The HMOs are sold on at more than double the market price, as a going business/investment concern. It completely distorts the market.

This is a scandal that barely gets talked about. It is an emergency in fact!

My partner worked for DWP and always debunks this. Illegal immigrants cannot claim benefits and they cannot legitimately work here either as they do not have the right to work. Illegal immigrants on benefits is a myth. But like Trump "truths", if it's repeated enough times it becomes fact.

This post is quite obtuse really. Not sure was it purposefully so or it was just a little brain fart.

A surveyor only inspects where it is possible and safe to do so. There was no safe way to inspect the loft. I only discovered the missing wall when I had to take down the ceilings to replace them.
I don't have just "any neighbours" I have neighbours who come and go, don't speak my language well enough to understand party walls, neighbours whose attention I'd rather not draw to this particular issue. There isn't just any owner - the owner lives in Spain and will not be contacted. That leaves me with MEARS. MEARS would make me run around in circles for months and then tell me to sort it with the landlord. THE END.
If I had a neighbour as we understand it then it would go like this: Identify a shared problem. The neighbour is then worried about fire and insurance. Agree to share the cost and get a builder in. Sorted. I'd love to have an Any Neighbour!

None of what I'm living with is just the normal reality of having neighbours. Do you really think it is?? Do you live next to 6 transient, nocturnal, drug using, destitute foreign males?

They will get their asylum seeker support allowance (approx £50 per week per adult if not in a hotel, in which case it's under £10 per week) until they are refused. Then they will get nothing. About 30 years ago there was a school mum in this situation, her husband worked about 80 hours a week cash in hand as a glass washer in a restaurant, paid cash to a landlord and lived extremely frugally. The dc were born here so there was some sort of rule that they couldn't kick the dc out and by default the parents either. I think after 6 years they got ILTR on that merit. It was a very difficult period of time, they were a lovely family too.
ETA: if you have been refused and stay on then you don't have a status so in theory no recourse to NHS or schools for children. They will treat you in an emergency situation but you will be billed for it. I don't think you can even register with a GP in this situation either.

I'd put a strict limit of so called "vulnerable" tenants per street, wherever they are from. If landlords around me couldn't milk that system, they'd have to house the professionals or sell up. That alone would make a huge difference to my street and my life.
At the moment there is literally nothing stopping my street becoming one large, teeming hostel. Could as well build a wall either end and call it done.

Are you telling me that if DH and I pitched up in the UK tomorrow with three young children, claimed asylum and plonked ourselves down in front of a housing officer the ONLY thing we'd get is £50 per week per adult and that's if we were not put in a hotel?

So if we were put in a hotel or temp accommodation of some sort, (which we would have to be by law if we had children with us) we'd only get £10 per adult because presumably food and all other basic needs are catered for? Laundry done for us, three meals a day etc? What about clothes? Seasonally appropriate footwear and winter coats? Phones? Nappies and formula for babies? Pens and pencils and school bags and uniform for the children at school. Is that expected to come out of the £10 per week? It's not, is it?

And if we were not put in a hotel but some other form of independent private accommodation, then how would that rent be paid for? And the utilities? The council tax? I mean clearly you can't pay all that for a family on £10 a week per adult. What allowances are there for children? I simply don't believe there would not be any. What if you don't have a washing machine? You could spend that £20 every week in the launderette alone. You can't live like that with three children.

In the case of the family you mentioned, I'm going to hazard a guess that the restaurant owner was his not only his cash-in-hand employer but also his dodgy landlord and some vague family acquaintance / distant cousin from the home country all rolled into one and that the family arrived on a visitor visa with the full intention of working for him, living in his property as a 'cousin' or 'friend' while claiming asylum. It makes little sense otherwise. Perfect sense if it was part of a game plan all along, however.

No way could anyone be expected to house, keep and feed a family on 10 quid a week per adult unless they take up illegal cash in hand work. The government obviously knows this. So basically you are telling me that the government is/was complicit in allowing people to work illegally and live illegally while their claim is processed?

Or are you telling me that the government is complicit in allowing children to starve and sleep on the streets and not go to school while their claim is processed? Because in theory at least, it's just not possible given the amount of Asylum Seeker Support Allowance to keep a family fed and housed. So which is it?

Because something simply doesn't add up here. I'm thinking this £10 or £50 per adult is nothing more than pocket money and all other essential expenses are taken care of. But that is never mentioned. Lots of people don't much or any disposable income at the end of their week or month, after essentials are taken care of do they? And they are not asylum seekers.

As far as schooling and the NHS is concerned, what you are saying is not true. Even if it is the official position in certain circumstances, it's certainly not the day to day reality. Children living in the UK (whether they were born here or not) will not be refused a place in school simply because of their parents' irregular immigration status. When a parent applies for a school place for a child they may well be asked for proof of address but they are NOT asked for proof of immigration status. And even if they were known to be 'irregular' their child would STILL not be discriminated against in education.

Neither is anyone refused treatment on the NHS or made to prove that they have the right to use it, or the means to pay the cost of treatment back if they do not.

I know it's supposed to work like that, in theory, but in practice it simply doesn't.

In my GP surgery there is are several folders dotted around the waiting area with pages in them translated into several languages that basically say 'rest assured you can safely seek medical treatment and or ask for health advice here irrespective of your immigration status, no fees/charges, no questions asked and no ID necessary.'

I just can't vote until a party stands up against this creation of privately owned Victorian slums!

One of the Landlords owns 15 mortgage free HMOs in my street. I did some rough calculations (after freedom of information request gave me the average weekly rent) - he gets at least 25 000 via the Housing Benefit System a month!! From a single street!
They are not giving that up willingly

Are you telling me that if DH and I pitched up in the UK tomorrow with three young children, claimed asylum and plonked ourselves down in front of a housing officer the ONLY thing we'd get is £50 per week per adult and that's if we were not put in a hotel?

So if we were put in a hotel or temp accommodation of some sort, (which we would have to be by law if we had children with us) we'd only get £10 per adult because presumably food and all other basic needs are catered for? Laundry done for us, three meals a day etc? What about clothes? Seasonally appropriate footwear and winter coats? Phones? Nappies and formula for babies? Pens and pencils and school bags and uniform for the children at school. Is that expected to come out of the £10 per week? It's not, is it?

And if we were not put in a hotel but some other form of independent private accommodation, then how would that rent be paid for? And the utilities? The council tax? I mean clearly you can't pay all that for a family on £10 a week per adult. What allowances are there for children? I simply don't believe there would not be any. What if you don't have a washing machine? You could spend that £20 every week in the launderette alone. You can't live like that with three children.

In the case of the family you mentioned, I'm going to hazard a guess that the restaurant owner was his not only his cash-in-hand employer but also his dodgy landlord and some vague family acquaintance / distant cousin from the home country all rolled into one and that the family arrived on a visitor visa with the full intention of working for him, living in his property as a 'cousin' or 'friend' while claiming asylum. It makes little sense otherwise. Perfect sense if it was part of a game plan all along, however.

No way could anyone be expected to house, keep and feed a family on 10 quid a week per adult unless they take up illegal cash in hand work. The government obviously knows this. So basically you are telling me that the government is/was complicit in allowing people to work illegally and live illegally while their claim is processed?

Or are you telling me that the government is complicit in allowing children to starve and sleep on the streets and not go to school while their claim is processed? Because in theory at least, it's just not possible given the amount of Asylum Seeker Support Allowance to keep a family fed and housed. So which is it?

Because something simply doesn't add up here. I'm thinking this £10 or £50 per adult is nothing more than pocket money and all other essential expenses are taken care of. But that is never mentioned. Lots of people don't much or any disposable income at the end of their week or month, after essentials are taken care of do they? And they are not asylum seekers.

As far as schooling and the NHS is concerned, what you are saying is not true. Even if it is the official position in certain circumstances, it's certainly not the day to day reality. Children living in the UK (whether they were born here or not) will not be refused a place in school simply because of their parents' irregular immigration status. When a parent applies for a school place for a child they may well be asked for proof of address but they are NOT asked for proof of immigration status. And even if they were known to be 'irregular' their child would STILL not be discriminated against in education.

Neither is anyone refused treatment on the NHS or made to prove that they have the right to use it, or the means to pay the cost of treatment back if they do not.

I know it's supposed to work like that, in theory, but in practice it simply doesn't.

In my GP surgery there is are several folders dotted around the waiting area with pages in them translated into several languages that basically say 'rest assured you can safely seek medical treatment and or ask for health advice here irrespective of your immigration status, no fees/charges, no questions asked and no ID necessary.'

And obviously, no one is allowed to know that they've claimed asylum elsewhere before.
I once randomly asked a guy if he speaks German. His face sort of dropped in concern and he asked me panicked : How do you know me?!!
I don't know them but I know they like their Germany 😅