Living next to asylum seeker HMO, ask me anything

It would be interesting to get a couple of estate agents round to value your property. It would be useful to know if no one would touch it with a barge pole vs having a lot of interest from landlords.

See how much the council would pay you for it?

I'm not sure why you continue to live like this, but you do sound very stoical and resilient. I would be much less so.

Are you serious? Welcome them? You are seriously naive and I suggest you read the thread then sit down and have a think.

And be glad you're not facing this. Yet.

Be kind, my arse.

have you considered moving? I think I would, as a woman on my own (well 18yr old DD too).

I’d definitely look at trying to report that as a fire safety issue and get the contractor to sort it. Either way whoever lived next door, I wouldn’t feel safe with the fact someone could just access your house via the loft. I remember reading that story you mentioned too.

Have you ever asked them why they wanted to come to the uk ?

The reality is that there are many economic migrants mixed in with genuine asylum seekers. People fleeing genuinely life threatening situations would not cross the channel.

You obviously haven't read the latest UN report on the state of the asylum system in the UK under the Labour government - it's truly shocking what's been allowed to happen over the past two years. A significant number of cases are not being investigated thoroughly before asylum is granted, so the background and status of many claimants is never known.

OMFG, they can get into your loft from their side and potentially access your house??? That is horrific!

No, asylum seekers cannot but refugees can as discussed upthread.

Certain right wing politicians callbthe minimal stipend provid to adylum seekers a ‘benefit’. That amount is £49 plus change weekly for those who must provide their own food, and just under £10 weekly for those in accommodation providing food (of a kind).

Obviously tbere are no housing or utility bills, as OP says, but phones and phone contracts are not provided by HMG. All expenses including phones, food (if not provided), toiletries, transport and clothing must come out of this allowance or illegal earnings, as very, very few asylum seekers are allowed to work.

I think we should up the offer to 20k-30k for anyone inside the country from a certain date, any number cheaper than the cost of forced deportation. Tbh even 50k would probably be a bargain for the UK. Run an amnnesty for anyone who entered the country before today and registered with the authorities.

An old friend used to have student accomodation in a terraced house, where money, booze, straightners, playstation etc would go missing early 2000s. Never clicked tey were comkng in through the loft hatch when they were on nights out! Once they secured it, the theft stopped.

But the success rate is also falling all the time, and even successful claims will no longer come with permanent settlement.

Those are Labour results, too. Does the literature discuss them?

Yeah poor them. Having their housing paid for. So not paying tax either. Then helping to block up our doctors surgeries, hospitals, dentists as well.

You’d be surprised to find how many down the line will end up with white native women. It’s their quickest way to permanent residency and some of these women would be forever single otherwise.

Living n a house either 5 or 6 other strangers in houses mostly in poor condition, away from friends and family.

They would probably come back on another boat.It probably costs some people somewhere near that amount to get here from their home countries

I mean I absolutely understand the issues surrounding these set ups, especially the secrecy and obvious chances of corruption and some of them causing trouble in the area... but getting snippy about some of them learning the language, trying to communicate in a civil war and hoping to have a fairly normal life where they can contribute seems a bit odd?

I'm not sure what you mean by 'success rate'. It sounds as though you haven't actually read the report before commenting.

There are currently fewer than 90,000 asylum seekers on the UK with its population of
69,600,000. In a group of 1000 people who live in the UK, only 12 would be asylum seekers.

Asylum seekers are too concentrated in a few places. That’s wrong, and Burnham is the first PM from either party to attempt to disperse them properly. We shall see. Possibly in these places they do challege public services. Hopefully that will ease.

But 12 people in 1000 is not enough overall to clog up the services you mentioned.

Are you confusing asylum seekers and refugees? The total is still well under 1% of the population. The NHS is badly overstretched, but these numbers do not explain it.

I’ve just looked up the fire risk because of the loft situation.
It LOOKS like the council could have their HMO licence for it unless it’s rectified?
HMOs are obviously a much greater fire risk than normal houses and the fire could travel much more easily.
Obviously in practice it’s much trickier especially if Mears / landlord are interested in doing as little as possible but worth looking into.
Dealing with any bellend landlords whomever the tenants are is always a nightmare! Often more than the tenants.

The heart bleeds. Meanwhile many people here waiting years with small children living in cramped, awful conditions waiting to be housed. Wouldn't mind but many of the asylum seekers aren't genuine, throwing their passports in the sea. (Ooh I wonder why that is??!!-maybe because many have criminal convictions) Men who have left women and children behind. Men that have been known to assault women here.
Why, when we're a country in dire straits are we allowing these people in when other countries aren't and are looking after their own? Hmmmmm.......

Possibly but if you can return to country it would take the pressure off a lot of systems, fairly sure you would get a big exodus.

There was that whistleblower who said only 1% of asylum claims were basically valid but there was pressure to just validate claims.

Rawanda would have been a good option, if you are just going to get put in a third county it would massively reduce incentives for economic migrants.

My sister is in the same position. She lives in a terrace fairly near a city centre, 20 years ago it was mostly residential but it's now fairly commercial. In recent years there has been a lot of HMO applications and a lot of the houses have been turned into emergency hostel accommodation, which has brought a lot of drugs and antisocial behaviour into the area. Opposite her there is a chain hotel that was turned into asylum seeker accommodation for men, mostly from Somalia and neighbouring countries. Two years ago a group of the men rented the house beside her and converted it into a small teashop/takeaway. It seems to be exclusively for men, very rarely do you see a woman sitting there (they have seating outside).
Everyone is horrified when they find out but my sister (who has 2 young adult daughters) loves it, she says it's like having a private security company for free. The people from the hostel down a bit (all local people) don't loiter anymore, previously they would drink in the street which caused fighting and brought trouble. They help her if she has car trouble, are polite and respectful and she doesn't worry about burglary if she's away, which had been a previous problem. She also feels her daughters are safe when they are alone at night as the cafe is open to all hours. Her only complaint is that they talk at high volumes, the walls upstairs are quite thin so she can always heat them, but feels that's a small price to pay.
In the last year there has been an increase in 'citizen journalist' type of people who will come outside and film the men, shouting things at them, accusing them of stuff and then uploading it onto social media. This then brings other 'protect are women [sic]' locals in who want to stir up trouble which is a shame.

If it’s such a difficult life why are they here? Especially from countries where there are no wars?

I had no idea it was even a thing. Every house I've ever lived in has had walls that go right up to the roof!

The thought that someone could get into the loft next door and come down into my house is really quite perturbing, I would hate it. I'd have to put a lock of some sort on the access to the loft, I think.

Have you ever gone onto the Living Overseas board? Lots of migrants don't particularly like their host country, some even hate it, and despite even owning a home in the UK and having close family they don't come back. There are lots of reasons for this.