LHA gravy train still in full swing in London...

drc

I thought asylum seekers did not have access to the benefits system?

The LHA gravy train trundles along nicely in London...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2025895/Living-luxury-How-family-benefits-handed-2million-home-London.html

Jobless Somali asylum seekers are put up in lavish £2m, six bedroom house paid for by the taxpayer
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 12:55 AM on 15th August 2011

Comments (108)

A family of asylum seekers has moved into a £2million home in one of the country’s most exclusive neighbourhoods at taxpayers’ expense.
Unemployed Saeed Khaliif is being handed almost £8,000 a month to pay the rent on his house, one of the most expensive ever to be funded by housing benefit.

The Somali refugee, 49, demanded to be moved to the six-bedroom property in West Hampstead, north-west London, with his wife Sayida and their children after deciding their previous accommodation was inadequate.

Saeed Khaliif and his wife have been given the luxurious home in the exclusive London neighbourhood

Plush pad: The spacious lounge area in the £2m newly refurbished Hampstead home

Their old house, in Coventry, also had six bedrooms but, at £1,000 a month, was a fraction of the burden on the Government.The family say they wanted to be near friends and relatives in the capital.

But it is understood they left damage estimated at £600 in the Coventry property and did not pay their final month’s rent.

Their new home has a 90ft garden and has been recently refurbished, with an en suite master bedroom, modern kitchen and large living room. It is minutes from West Hampstead Underground station and the neighbourhood is home to comedian Stephen Fry and actress Emma Thompson.

Estate agents described the property as a ‘stunning six-bedroom, two reception house’ when it was on the market recently for £2million.

Raj Sohal, the family’s previous landlord, said: ‘It was the first time I’d rented to an asylum seeker family. I did it because I felt sorry for them. The fact is they were on every kind of benefit available. ‘If the rent on their new property is £8,000 I’m sure they are getting a lot more.’
He told The People newspaper: ‘We found they’d gone without paying the last month’s rent. ‘And there were repairs which would have been around £600. I didn’t chase the money. If the damage had been more I would have gone after them.’

Luxury: The Khaliif's can now count Stephen Fry as a fellow Hampstead neighbour

The sprawling kitchen in the plush home, which also has en suite bathrooms and was advertised to rent for £7,800 a month

One of six bedrooms which include en suite rooms or dressing rooms. The family have moved from Coventry where their rent was £1,000 a month

Funded by the public purse: The family, who are unemployed, are in one of the most expensive benefit homes ever

Government guidelines state anyone eligible for housing benefit can claim for a private property in any part of the country.

Housing benefit was recently capped at £400 per week, but the Khaliifs are able to claim more because they moved before the change came into force. According to property sources, the house was being advertised at a rent of £7,800 per month.

It is unclear how many children the family have – but up to eight youngsters have been seen at the property. When approached by The People, Mr Khaliif said: ‘This is my house. We’ve got every right to live here.’

Speaking via his children, who acted as translators, he said he had not worked since arriving in the UK three years ago and admitted he was on benefits.

Residents in the street reacted angrily to the family’s move.
An architect in her 20s said: ‘It’s just not fair, we have worked so hard to get where we are. We only just manage to pay the £3,000 rent on our flat and they have that property for nothing.’

Last night Johnny Bucknell, who is on Camden Council’s housing committee, said: ‘When Camden housing is gridlocked and there is ample room up north, why are we encouraging people to move south?’

The Department of Work and Pensions said the new rules now in force would make the system fairer. ‘As claims come up for renewal, people on housing benefit will have to make the same choices as people in work about where they can afford to live,’ a spokesman said.

Mr and Mrs Khaliif refused to speak to the Mail yesterday. A handwritten note on their front door read ‘Media do not knock. We have nothing to say.’

Camden Council was unavailable for comment last night.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2025895/Living-luxury-How-family-benefits-handed-2million-home-London.html#ixzz1V53urW1F

Graham_Devon

Regardless of the rights or wrongs for a min, why do this family (or any other family like it) have to live in London?

Simply because they wanted to be near friends and relatives?

IronWolf

sickening. When is the HB cap coming into effect?

ILW

I would have thought that by leaving their home in Coventry, they have made themselves intentionally homeless and Camden have no reason to give them any sort of housing. Or are the rules different for asylum seekers to anyone else?

lynzpower

They are not asylum seekers, they are refugees.

I wonder why this article mixes the two very distinct situations...

ILW

lynzpower wrote: »

They are not asylum seekers, they are refugees.

I wonder why this article mixes the two very distinct situations...

What difference does it make?

kabayiri

ILW wrote: »

I would have thought that by leaving their home in Coventry, they have made themselves intentionally homeless and Camden have no reason to give them any sort of housing. Or are the rules different for asylum seekers to anyone else?

All down to your 'oomann rites' innit.

I suspect council peeps are scared stiff of being seen to be doing wrong.

Let's step back for one moment and analyse the whole picture.

They are here because Somalia is strife ridden and a nasty place to live yeah?

So the state gives one Somali family £100K plus a year here as a safe refuge.

Just how far would that £100K go in helping to solve some of the problems in Somalia ?

Exactly how does offering refugee status help correct the underlying problems in the home country ?

The cynic in me suggests that no one is interested in solving anything, as long as some of that juicy state coffers falls into the hands of wealthy landlords (oh and 'oomann rites' consultants).

StevieJ

They are getting some mileage out of this story, even the Mad Hatters Tea Party are on to it :eek: and somehow blaming Obama BTW that will be tree hugging I think, possibly Freud may have had something to say about that slip.

This is what Obama has started here with his bleeding heart tree hunging liberals. Since when is an asylum seeker given special treatment? Are you angry yet? This will stop when you elect me!

http://teapartyorg.ning.com/profiles/blogs/this-is-what-obama-has-started-here-jobless-somali-asylum-seekers?xg_source=activity

SingleSue

Blimey, what they are paying out there per month would pay my rent for over 18 months, nearer to two years here!

blisk3

i blame daily mail.

peeps you're being used, use your brains

lynzpower

ILW wrote: »

What difference does it make?

Um one of them has no right to remain in the country just suspended here until its safe to return home...while they ask, can they live here permanently instead of returning home

The other one has the same rights as someone born here.

I have simplified this as I'm busy.