Estate agents and insurers block migrant hotel closures

EFFORTS to shut down migrant hotels are being frustrated by estate agents and insurance firms, asylum housing providers have told MPs.

- By Michael Knowles Home Affairs Editor

Clearsprings Ready Homes said estate agents would rather deal with individuals than a company.

It told the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee that insurers were hiking premiums when they realised asylum seekers were being moved in.

Provider Serco said planning rules and refurbishment costs were also stopping more hotels being closed.

The Home Office wants to shut every hotel by 2029 and move migrants into sites such as ex-student accommodation, disused tower blocks and community homes.

Communities are also calling for them to be closed over fears asylum seekers pose a greater threat to women and girls. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said yesterday there was also a risk of terrorism.

Some 32,000 arrivals are currently housed in about 210 hotels.

PM Sir Keir Starmer sparked fury last week, after saying there were “lots” of housing for migrants, despite the accommodation crisis.

However —Clearsprings, which houses asylum seekers in London, the South and Wales, told MPs: “One of the most significant barriers to procurement that the team face is the fact that some estate agents do not want to work with us as a ‘company’.