Living next to asylum seeker HMO, ask me anything

[JapanesePotWeed]

As the title says. I live in a Victorian mid-terrace, wall-to-wall, garden-to-garden with an asylum seeker dispersal HMO. They were moved in nearly two years ago, replacing a multi-generation family that were living there before.
There is another HMO directly opposite my house, where asylum seekers get rooms once they are approved to remain but don't have an income to support themselves.

Not AIBU but more like AMA. I'm wondering what people would ask me if they really could ask anything. Does anyone actually want to know what it is like? I hear a lot of political point scoring in the media regarding this topic but no one actually talks to people like me!

What % men. What % women.

How do they conduct themselves? What do the ones who have leave to remain do?

It's only men. 5-6 at any given time. I've seen many come and go in the two years. The house opposite is only men as well.

The conduct is a mixed bag, as some move out, the others move in. This transience really is the scary thing as you just never know who will be there next!
Sometimes there are lovely, prolonged quiet times. But there have been issues with drug dealing, weed smoking and illegal working for Just Eat and Deliveroo. The working was awful with all the bikes coming and going. We share an alley between my house and theirs and it was blocked every day with food bags and bikes.

The ones who stay go to courses. A lot of courses. Some go to English lessons and of course barbering is popular. Some do shifts in takeaways. All complain about the shared accommodation and hope to get a house/flat.

Do any professionals visit and monitor or have a presence or are they just left to fend for themselves?

When they (Home Office/MEARS) settled in the first group, I used to see case workers reasonably regularly but for the past 18 months the place and the tenants are pretty much abandoned. The garden got in a right state 😱 as no one ever comes to see.

An interesting observation is that the guys are all pretty much nocturnal. They wake around 12pm-1pm and are at their most "animated" from 10pm onwards. Must be something that they are used to. I'm a night-owl myself so I can tolerate it. Would be hard otherwise!

How do you feel living next door to them? Do you feel just as safe as before there were asylum seekers there?

Are you scared?

Yes, I don't think a woman living alone is a suitable neighbour to all male asylum seekers, particularly when we didn't have full height fences between properties (I had to build a fence), our lofts have no party wall and are mutually accessible and we have shared land in the form of that access alley. But hey, no one asked me or even considered the things I mentioned.

Why don’t you ask for this thread to be moved to the AMA section? That is exactly its purpose.

My question, do any of the residents of the HMO try to engage with you/the other neighbours?

How do you personally feel living next door?

Are you planning to sell your home in the near-ish future, and if so how would you feel about it then?

I'd hate this, so sorry op, are the men friendly to you? Are they intimidating?

what do your other neighbours think about this?

The shared attic space is the stuff of nightmares!

I’m assuming you don’t own the property? do you plan to move?

Do you own your house?

Do you know who owns the houses which are HMOs?

Were you told that the houses were going to be hmos?

The not blocked off attic space is something I've never considered as a women that's lived as a single mum most of my adult life.

Why haven't I thought of that before from a security point of view?! 😱

What does this mean, they can get in?

@OldWallpaper

I get scared when there is an issue, like the alley blocked with bikes or a 2am disposable barbecue "event" and I realise that I can't just tell a group of transient males to quit it.
Can't speak to them, not a police matter, the landlord lives in Spain and the contractors MEARS are so secretive they take a week just to confirm it's one of their houses.
The tenants (well the ones thus far!) have never made me scared directly. They don't harass me in any way. Though there have been some leading questions about my relationship status, whether I live alone and telling me they're looking for a wife just like me. I feel it like a nuisance more than fear.

Yes, they can get in!
Doesn't help that I know of a case where a woman was shot with a crossbow and her husband killed by a neighbour (not an asylum seeker) who came in via the loft.
There should be a full wall for fire safety if nothing else but... I'll have to build it.The asylum contractors really will not help in any way!

Some go to English lessons and of course barbering is popular…..All complain about the shared accommodation and hope to get a house/flat.

A positive that they are making good progress with their English and are communicating easily with their neighbours.

Oh well that's just fine then isn't it ..

I own my house. I bought it when there was a family next door.

The HMOs were converted for student use around 20 years ago, then housed families again but clearly those 5-7 year asylum contracts pay better.
The landlord lives in Spain and couldn't care less about anyone in England!

No, no one told me about the plans. In fact, even when the first group were moved in and I had spoken to case workers, the landlord and the contractor MEARS tried to lie and tell me that the tenants have nothing to do with the asylum system. They are very, very secretive and it makes me feel more unsafe, not less!

If the contractor is Mears the client is the council surely?! Therefore the property is a council owned.