{"id":468272,"date":"2025-10-02T11:11:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T11:11:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/468272\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T11:11:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T11:11:12","slug":"how-hmos-became-londons-next-asylum-battleground","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/468272\/","title":{"rendered":"How HMOs became London’s next asylum battleground"},"content":{"rendered":"

Within a week, my car was broken into. There was music all hours, people in and out. Then the smell came through. Cigarettes, cannabis<\/a>, then something harsher. My kids started getting headaches.\u201d Jenny* has lived in Perivale, a west London suburb once nicknamed \u201cNappy Valley\u201d for its safe streets, family-friendly feel and quiet gardens, for 20 years. <\/p>\n

That changed for her in 2021, when the house next door was bought by an investment company and converted into an HMO (house of multiple occupation)<\/a> which housed a mix of British residents from troubled backgrounds. In recent years, there has been an explosion of HMOs<\/a>, with the soaring cost of living in the capital meaning that many cannot afford to rent a flat<\/a> themselves. Now, asylum seekers<\/a> are likely to overwhelm a system already at breaking point.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Labour government has committed to ending the use of hotels altogether. The Government is scrambling for options to rehouse the asylum seekers currently in hotel accommodation, with ex military sites a current focal point<\/a>. But there isn\u2019t enough space to house everyone there, and with thousands arriving in small boats every week, Keir Starmer\u2019s new home secretary Shabana Mahmood faces a Sisyphean challenge. <\/p>\n

This will mean a dispersal of asylum seekers into HMOs and that, campaigners say, could turn a housing model already riddled with crime, exploitation and profiteering into an even more volatile flashpoint.<\/p>\n

A property is classed as an HMO if at least three tenants forming more than one household live there, sharing kitchen or bathroom facilities, while large HMOs house five people or more. They range from student flats and young professionals\u2019 digs to council-commissioned properties used to house vulnerable groups: ex-offenders, addicts, rough sleepers and people with mental health problems. A third of Britain\u2019s HMOs are in London, comprising a key part of the city\u2019s rental infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Payman, a 32-year-old Iranian, came to the UK on a small boat after he was persecuted in Iran for converting to Christianity and holding perceived anti-regime beliefs. He spent months in a west London asylum hotel before gaining refugee status and being given 28 days to leave the hotel. \u201cFriends helped me find an HMO run by a private company. They keep Iranians together, which makes it safer. But others are not so lucky. A friend was placed with an alcoholic who brought home rubbish bags every day,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Payman watches the protests on TV with unease. \u201cPeople think hotels are bad. But at least there\u2019s some control. In houses, you can\u2019t put security on every door. It can be worse for the community,\u201d he says. \u201cPeople protesting refugees in hotels<\/a> should be careful what they wish for.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Bell Hotel in Epping became a focal point for protests over summer<\/p>\n

PA Wire<\/p>\n

HMOs can come with problems, and critics say the risks multiply when vulnerable people are packed in without proper safeguards.<\/p>\n

\u2018It changed everything\u2019: when HMOs move in<\/p>\n

For Jenny, the house next door in her previously pleasant Perivale street made life completely unbearable. As though the drugs seeping through the walls and making her children sick wasn\u2019t enough, soon she noticed groups of men loitering on corners, dealing drugs during the day. \u201cOne HMO nearby had a registered sex offender. It was next to a school. He flashed at children.\u201d<\/p>\n

The breaking point came when Jenny herself was threatened. \u201cI\u2019d just come back from shopping. Two men were outside my gate \u2014 I asked them to move. They taunted me and threatened to rape me. Afterwards, I shook for hours,\u201d she says. Jenny later learned that other tenants were recently released from prison, with serious mental health needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey need help, support, a way back into society,\u201d Jenny says. \u201cBut they were crammed into shoebox rooms with no supervision. That\u2019s not rehabilitation, it\u2019s a money-making scheme.\u201d<\/p>\n

HMOs proliferated from 2015 partly due to a change to the planning act which allowed landlords to convert family homes into small HMOs<\/a>, known as the \u201cpermitted development right\u201d. Housing shortages and rent increases created additional demand for HMOs.<\/p>\n

Local authorities could still introduce an Article 4 Direction \u2014 a regulation to limit HMO conversions which is often used in areas with high concentrations, but only after lengthy consultation.<\/p>\n

Tightened licensing regulations then meant that the number of new HMOs has been falling since 2018. The Office for National Statistics<\/a> estimated there were 142,483 HMOs in London in 2023, with Ealing, Brent, and Tower Hamlets having the highest numbers per borough. That is now likely to change \u2014 and not just because of asylum seekers<\/a> entering the system.<\/p>\n

Some experts report a recent \u201cexplosion\u201d. \u201cPeople cannot afford to rent a home or a flat in their own right\u201d, says Faraz Baber, COO of planning consultancy Lanpro. \u201cThat, of course, for those landlords that are operating family homes, means they are able to accrue a premium because they\u2019re getting multiple people living in one of their properties.\u201d<\/p>\n

Renting individual rooms generates higher income than renting to a single household<\/p>\n

The HMO attraction for landlords<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a lucrative business. According to research by Aldermore Bank, 30 per cent of HMO landlords have gross rental income of between \u00a3100,000 and \u00a3199,999, compared to just 10 per cent of non-HMO landlords. This is because renting individual rooms generates higher gross rental income than renting to a single family or household. For landlords, HMOs can mean guaranteed rent. When vulnerable groups need housing, landlords will get rent directly from housing benefits. For some investors and landlords, ex-offenders, addicts and asylum seekers are a profitable market. Some councils even pay a premium rate for harder-to-house groups. \u201cIt\u2019s an absolute money-making scheme,\u201d one Perivale resident says bluntly.<\/p>\n

Councils overwhelmed, residents ignored<\/p>\n

Yet while landlords cash in, residents say local authorities are failing to protect them. Jenny\u2019s group, Medway Village Residents Association, sent around a thousand emails to Ealing Council, warning about drug use, sexual harassment and antisocial behaviour. Responses were slow and, they say, dismissive.<\/p>\n

\u201cCouncils like Ealing consistently fail to enforce licence conditions,\u201d Jenny says. \u201cWe had to fight for an Article 4 Direction to stop automatic conversions. It took protests and sleepless nights. But the community is united and is a driving force on its way to eradicating problems completely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ealing Council told The Standard: \u201cWe investigate all complaints of anti-social behaviour and poor waste management and encourage residents to contact us if they are aware of these problems. If properties are found to be poorly managed, and if anti-social behaviour is not appropriately dealt with by the licence holder, we will take action to revoke their property licence.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the question of where to house asylum seekers looms, Article 4 can be overruled by the Secretary of State. A government paper states: \u201cThere are certain permitted development rights that cannot be withdrawn by any Article 4 direction. These exemptions are to ensure permitted development rights related to national concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are working closely with local authorities, property partners and across government so that we can accelerate delivery and more detail will be set out in due course,\u201d said the Home Office in a statement to The Standard, when asked about the future of asylum seeker accommodation, should hotels no longer be used. Government contractors such as Clearsprings Ready Homes are seeking landlords willing to house them in HMOs. The offer includes guaranteed rent, long leases and management handled by the contractor.<\/p>\n

\u201cA five-year fixed deal with a government contract is very attractive. For investors, the numbers add up,\u201d says Baber.<\/p>\n

But he warned that moving asylum seekers into HMOs could raise concerns for local communities. \u201cIn hotels, services and security can be provided. Once dispersed, they could be anywhere \u2014 next to schools, care homes, on quiet estates. HMOs don\u2019t control who lives together.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are also questions over the impact on existing renters<\/a>, who are already seriously squeezed with London\u2019s soaring rental costs<\/a>. \u201cLandlords may decide to switch because the return on an HMO with a government contract is far higher. That could push private tenants out,\u201d Baber says.<\/p>\n

For charities working with women, the implications are stark. Neelam Rose, a women\u2019s rights activist who supports and advocates for survivors of domestic and sexual violence, worked with a female tenant who was groomed by an HMO landlord, who offered reduced rent in exchange for sexual favours.<\/p>\n

She also supported Sarah*, a young woman fleeing honour-based violence, after council housing placed her in an HMO in north London with refugees. \u201cShe thought it was a safe haven. Instead, she was isolated, surrounded by men she found menacing. Eventually she disclosed she\u2019d been sexually assaulted by one of them. She didn\u2019t report it. She had no other housing option,\u201d says Rose.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to stigmatise all male asylum seekers,\u201d Rose stresses. \u201cPredatory behaviour isn\u2019t unique to them. But cultural misogyny, isolation and lack of safeguards make women especially vulnerable. This will get worse if asylum seekers are funnelled into HMOs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Solace Women\u2019s Aid reports similar cases with HMO tenants from British backgrounds. \u201cWe supported a woman who was given temporary accommodation in an HMO,\u201d a caseworker says. \u201cShe felt so unsafe seeing groups of men outside that she didn\u2019t even enter the property. She went back to her abuser instead. That happens monthly.\u201d<\/p>\n

The charity notes that harassment can start with small, unwanted comments or touching, before escalating into assault. Survivors often stay silent, fearing eviction.<\/p>\n

For experts, the winners are clear: landlords and investors. \u201cThe Government is trying to end hotels by stealth,\u201d one Medway group member said. \u201cBut unless they fund enforcement, extend move-on times, and commission proper supported housing, this will only worsen exploitation \u2014 of both communities and migrants.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the High Court sides with Epping Council this month, the pressure to close asylum hotels will only grow. For landlords, the financial pull is obvious.<\/p>\n

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