9:12 AM, 28th April 2025, About 4 weeks ago 42
Text Size
In a bid to address the escalating number of migrants crossing the Channel, the Home Office has intensified efforts to secure private rental properties for asylum seekers on lucrative tenancy deals.
The initiative, led by contractor Serco, offers landlords guaranteed five-year leases at full rent, funded by taxpayers, to accommodate the growing number of arrivals.
The deal will also see Serco offering free property management, free utilities and council tax bills and a full repair and maintenance of the property.
Landlords interested in working with Serco should read these previous articles on Property118:
Serco contract was a train wreck!
Should I rent to Serco for 7 years?
However, the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA), says that the government needs to get its act together to encourage landlord investment with a tax and regulatory regime to support them.
Serco manages more than 30,000 asylum seekers across 7,000 properties and is now actively recruiting landlords in regions like the North West, Midlands and East of England.
Promotional materials highlight ‘on-time rent with no arrears’, free property management and coverage of utilities and council tax.
However, the policy has ignited controversy with critics, including shadow home secretary Chris Philp, who argue it prioritises migrants over British people struggling to find homes to rent.
He told the Telegraph: “This lays bare Labour’s shameful failures. Because they have let in record numbers of illegal immigrants so far this year, via Serco the government is offering better than market terms to landlords to house them.
“This is taking away homes that hard-working, tax-paying Britons who are struggling to find a place to rent need.
“Labour is once again giving a better deal to illegal immigrants than people who have lived, worked and paid tax here all their lives.
“These illegal immigrants should have been sent to Rwanda, not put up in nice flats.”
The NRLA’s chief executive, Ben Beadle, said: “The government’s reliance on the private-rented sector to house those in the greatest need is nothing new. However, the Home Office’s use of private landlords highlights the growing shortage of available homes and the lack of consistency between government departments.
“Whilst half of Whitehall is scrabbling to hit housing targets and find accommodation for potentially homeless households, the other half seems hell-bent on devising ways to dissuade investment in homes.”
He added: “If the Government is serious about meeting housing need, and growing our way out of the current crisis, then it needs to incentivise investment. Landlords need the confidence that both the regulatory and tax regime will allow them to plan and to flourish.
“Without this the market will continue to stagnate, and demand will further outstrip the limited supply of housing available.”
The government’s push follows a record-breaking surge in small boat arrivals, with 9,638 people crossing illegally this year — a 44.5% increase from 2024 and the highest since 2018.
With warmer weather forecast, officials anticipate further spikes.
The Home Office now supports 65,700 asylum seekers, a decade-high, doubling the 31,000 housed in 2014.
Labour’s strategy, building on a Conservative-era policy, targets houses in multiple occupation, family homes and student accommodation to reduce reliance on costly hotels, which house 38,000 asylum seekers at £5.5 million daily. Private rentals cost £14 per night, compared to £145 for hotels.
Sir Keir Starmer, during the last election, vowed to ‘end asylum hotels, saving the taxpayer billions of pounds’.
Councils and charities warn that the scheme inflates rents, sidelining young workers, families and the homeless.
With 1.3 million on social housing waiting lists, one council leader criticised Serco for ‘encouraging landlords to exploit taxpayers’, impacting local services and cohesion.
A housing executive who has advised the government said homes are being denied to local people, adding: “Whether they are long-term residents of the UK or immigrants, they should surely come ahead of asylum seekers and illegal migrants who turn up and demand assistance.”
A Home Office spokesman defended the policy and told the Telegraph: “These arrangements with the private rented sector have been in place for years, including under the previous government.
“We have a statutory duty to support destitute asylum seekers who will not be able to pay for fees such as utilities and council tax.”
Next Article
Slower house price growth but sales rise - Zoopla
Dino Saw
Become a Member
If you login or become a member you can view this members profile, comments and posts!
Sign Up10:17 AM, 28th April 2025, About 4 weeks ago
I have heard of horror stories here… all that glistens isn’t gold…
I have heard about slow payments, maintenance not done and property ruined..
With all the taxes and enforcement t of the rent reform bill no landlords should sign up to this madness… by not signing up the government will realise even more how important the PRS is….
And how do we understand how the rent reform bill fits into this with responsibilities and law etc…
I certainly for one will not be signing up for this madness fur a few extra quid!
David
Become a Member
If you login or become a member you can view this members profile, comments and posts!
Sign Up10:42 AM, 28th April 2025, About 4 weeks ago
Reply to the comment left by Dino Saw at 28/04/2025 - 10:17
Like councils, once they entice you, payments then stop and they leave you to deal with the mess.
A couple of patrolling destroyers , like Australia, would deal with this.But of course they have human rights unlike landlords.
David Houghton
Become a Member
If you login or become a member you can view this members profile, comments and posts!
Sign Up10:44 AM, 28th April 2025, About 4 weeks ago
Surely the best thing landlords can do is to.sign up to this. Particularly hmo landlords. Create a housing crisis on a far worse scale by compliance with government wishes and see the Renters rights bill fail. Make some money in the process. Yea if course it will hurt UK nationals and legal immigrants but we are just running a business, not a country
Cider Drinker
Become a Member
If you login or become a member you can view this members profile, comments and posts!
Sign Up10:52 AM, 28th April 2025, About 4 weeks ago
I feel that I have a responsibility to turn down this offer and accommodate my people.
moneymanager
Become a Member
If you login or become a member you can view this members profile, comments and posts!
Sign Up10:54 AM, 28th April 2025, About 4 weeks ago
How convenient, now we know why this NW city looks like a mini Manhattan, I'm sure the Chinese developers/buyers will jump at the chance and the Council will rub its grubby hands together at the prospect of either council tax or the ability to squeeze genuine residents tonpay for additional support, I think we need the tumbrils to be dusted off.
Markella Mikkelsen
Become a Member
If you login or become a member you can view this members profile, comments and posts!
Sign Up11:27 AM, 28th April 2025, About 4 weeks ago
Even without the warnings from other landlords about working with Serco, I find it morally wrong that illegal immigrants who have not paid a penny of tax into this country should be given priority over UK nationals and legal immigrants. So - no thanks. I will not be signing to this.
But I did chuckle at the double-facedness of this Government, begging private landlords with one hand while burning them with sulphur with the other.
The British people are no fools: we have absolutely no statutory duty to defend "destitute asylum seekers" - not when our own health, housing and education systems are cracking at the seams.
And we all know the majority are not destitute or asylum seekers, we are not stupid, we can see the iphones and Rolexes as they are coming off the boats. They are leaving a perfectly safe country (France) to come here and make the most of our generous welfare system and be put up in 3-star hotels for the next 2 years.
Like a child having a tantrum, Keir Starmer abolished the Rwanda scheme out of spite for the Conservatives before he even tried it to see whether it works or not.
"Smashing the gangs" is pure delusion, a pipe dream, a bit like the building of 1.5 million homes. It's a bit like saying we will stop drug traffickers. When the profit margins are so high, he does not stand a chance!
Rant over. But just an observation: how come Serco is allowed to sign a 5-year lease when fixed tenancies are being abolished?
Paul Barrow
Become a Member
If you login or become a member you can view this members profile, comments and posts!
Sign Up11:40 AM, 28th April 2025, About 4 weeks ago
Given the government’s treatment of genuine landlords over recent years they can bugger off if they think I will support their request to house immigrants 👎
Beaver
Become a Member
If you login or become a member you can view this members profile, comments and posts!
Sign Up11:49 AM, 28th April 2025, About 4 weeks ago
Reply to the comment left by Dino Saw at 28/04/2025 - 10:17
Neither the terms of my BTL mortgage nor the terms of my landlord's insurance permit me to house asylum seekers.
If either central or local government needed me to accommodate asylum seekers then they would need to provide me with GREATER security than would be required if I were, for example, to accept social housing tenants, not less: Furthermore, this ADDITIONAL security would need to be SUFFICIENT to reassure insurers and providers of finance.
Presently I don't house social housing tenants because if it transpires that they are not eligible for their benefits, the council can come back and get the money off me, even though I have no way of checking the tenants' eligibility for benefits.
So whilst landlords who own their properties entirely might be able to take advantage of what's being discussed here, I cannot see the majority of landlords being ABLE to do this even if they wanted to.
Labour need to wake up and realise that the majority of landlords are not rich people - they are small-portfolio landlords - and they are already under attack via the tax system. Piling extra risk onto small-portfolio landlords will not solve anything. If they want to make use of the BTL sector to solve problems they need to incentivise it, not undermine it.
Dylan Morris
Become a Member
If you login or become a member you can view this members profile, comments and posts!
Sign Up11:51 AM, 28th April 2025, About 4 weeks ago
Reply to the comment left by Markella Mikkelsen at 28/04/2025 - 11:27That’s a very good point about 5 year tenancies. They can be put into place at the moment, but will become a periodic tenancy when the RRB is on the statue book. So there won’t be an end to the 5 years Serco tenancy. It will roll over after 5 years. In order to get your property back you’ll have to issue a Section 8 notice and go to Court (at huge expense and delay) and the only reason you can use is you want to sell the property. What if you don’t want to sell ? Serco have got your property forever !!
David Houghton
Become a Member
If you login or become a member you can view this members profile, comments and posts!
Sign Up12:04 PM, 28th April 2025, About 4 weeks ago
Reply to the comment left by Dylan Morris at 28/04/2025 - 11:51
No. Serco will have a leasehold for 5 years, not a residential tenancy