A council leader has “called out” the government’s policy on housing asylum seekers in houses of multiple occupation (HMOs) across the districts as “unfair” on those on council housing waiting lists.
It has emerged that four family homes within the borough of Tonbridge and Malling are currently being converted into HMOs for up to six occupants each. Two are in Walderslade, in Montfort Road and Oaks Dene.
Council leader Matt Boughton
Under planning law, HMOs for six or fewer occupants don’t need planning permission, and so the decision has been taken entirely without input from the borough council.
On Tuesday, council leader Matt Boughton (Con) used a meeting of the full council to condemn the process.
He said: “This is an issue that is deeply concerning me and many residents across Walderslade.
“As part of the government’s asylum dispersal programme, it is buying properties in our borough and converting them to HMOs.
“Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council has no say in where these properties are bought. We find out only when an application for an HMO licence is submitted.”
Residents are said to be concerned about the Home Office plans to place asylum seekers in HMOs in their street
He told colleagues: “That property could be in a community that you represent, or that you live in.”
Cllr Boughton said: “We know that illegal immigration in this country is out of control and has been for many years.
“But what is especially galling is when the government buys houses in our community for illegal immigrants to live in, yet this council is forced to house our own homeless, who are on our housing waiting list, outside of this borough!
“That is fundamentally unfair, and that is why I’m calling this out.
“It is a disgrace, and the government should not be prioritising illegal immigrants over homeless residents who’ve got a local connection to Tonbridge and Malling.
Cllr Mike Taylor
“This has caused significant concern in the community, and the lack of transparency is something that needs to be called out.”
Cllr Mike Taylor (Ind Alliance Kent) agreed with him, saying: “The housing in our borough should be primarily for our own residents. I have sympathy for asylum seekers, but our people come first.”
But Cllr Lee Athwal, leader of the Greens on TMBC, said: “I’m really struggling when I hear the words ‘illegal immigrants,’ because these are asylum seekers and it is not illegal to seek asylum.
“So while I can understand that people get very nervous when things happen on their doorsteps, I think we need to be really careful with our language. We’ve seen what’s happened in Crowborough.
“These are asylum seekers. They’re not on our housing register because they have no right to be on our housing register, and if these houses were available, I don’t know why we didn’t buy them ourselves and turn them into temporary accommodation.”
Cllr Lee Athwal: Let’s not have another Crowborough
Cllr Athwal continued: “I’ve got real sympathy for people. They’re going to be worried about this. They’re going to be nervous about this. But if we use incendiary language, we will have the same problems they have in Crowborough.”
There are currently 350 asylum seekers housed at a former military base at Crowborough, nine miles from Tunbridge Wells, with a total of 600 planned. Since people have started to arrive, there have been regular protest marches through the town.
But Cllr Boughton insisted: “We have a housing crisis. We don’t have enough properties in the borough that are going to those in the most need from Tonbridge and Malling.
“The problem now is that the people who we have identified through our housing register are being treated second to individuals who are identified by the government who have no connection to Tonbridge and Malling, including illegal immigrants, and these houses are being procured for that purpose, when we cannot give our residents the opportunity to get houses in the borough.”
He said: “We cannot intercept a sale to the Home Office, and in any case, in most instances, the houses aren’t being sold directly to the Home Office.”
The Home Office policy is not going down well
“They’re being sold to companies who then come to an arrangement with the Home Office.
“The HMO licence applications that come in to us, don’t necessarily come in from the Home Office. They come in via the owners of the properties or third parties, who then have a further arrangement with the Home Office.
“There is this opaque trail.
“What we want as a council is a greater ability to influence our communities. That’s what this is all about.
“We don’t have the ability to effectively intercept a sale. We don’t have the ability to demand that private property is used for residents on the housing register. So we end up in this terrible, terrible situation.
“I feel sorry for everyone who’s on our housing register and who’s in desperate need of a property and who will see (people being given housing) in our borough and will think, why not me?”
Asylum seekers continue to arrive
The properties in Walderslade are being converted to HMOs by a company called Clearsprings Ready Homes, which has landed a £7bn contract from the government to house asylum seekers.
Outside of the meeting, Cllr Boughton confirmed there were other properties within TMBC outside of Walderslade that were being converted for asylum seeker HMOs.
TMBC has 360 families currently on its housing register waiting for a home.
At the end of December 2025, government figures showed there were 64,426 asylum seekers waiting for a decision on their application, with a further 80,333 whose asylum applications had been refused, but who were waiting on the outcome of an appeal.
Separately, the MP for Maidstone and Malling, Helen Grant (Con), has written to TMBC asking for details about the number of properties in the borough being secured for asylum seekers.
She said: “My immediate concern is ensuring transparency for local people, but no details of the scheme have been shared (by the government) with me, as the Member of Parliament for Maidstone and Malling.
She said she was worried about “the potential implications for local housing supply and public services.”