FAMILIES were evicted from their rental homes just before Christmas because lucrative contracts tempt landlords to move in migrants instead.
Families told The Sun they’ve been evicted from their homes so asylum seekers can live there in house shares – leaving them terrified and desperately searching for a place to live.
A mum whose family was evicted from their home for migrants a few months ago slammed the Government over its treatment.
The family’s home in Horwich, Greater Manchester, was turned into a house of multiple occupancy (HMO) for male migrants.
It is part of the government’s latest migrant initiative – nicknamed Operation Scatter – which has seen migrants being turfed out of expensive hotels and sent to live in houses of multiple occupancy (HMOs) across the country.
Horwich, on the outskirts of Bolton, now has eight times the national average of HMOs, with landlords cashing in on £3,000-a-month rent to house migrants.
Mum-of-two Emma, who has two daughters aged seven and nine, and her partner were evicted from their terraced home in the town.
The 34-year-old told The Sun: “The landlord told me he was doing it up to sell the house – but it was a lie.
“He was really turning it into an HMO. But I don’t blame the landlord as he could suddenly get a lot more money for housing migrants.
“I blame the government. It’s outrageous families are being kicked out of their homes and the Government is encouraging it.
“They should be looking after their own people, not foreigners.
“The Government should have planned better for housing all these people – if not, don’t let them in.
“They should stop the boats. There’s too many migrants here now – I lost the place where I called home for years.”
Emma is not the only mum to have been turfed out of her home in Horwich.
A single mum, with two young kids, was kicked out of a terraced house in a nearby street with a Section 21 no-fault eviction notice by her landlord.
TAKEN OVER BY MIGRANTS
Retired builder Martin Greaves, 71, said: “The place is being taken over by migrants – it’s shocking.
“It’s pretty disgusting that mothers with young children are losing their homes to migrants.
“Migrants are being dumped on us – it’s outrageous.”
Pensioner Robert Hill, 72, said: “A couple moved out near me and then the landlord did loads of building work.
“He was turning his home into an HMO. Suddenly it was a four-bed house and then a few months later, some migrants moved in.”
Locals have complained about late-night parties, overcrowding and drug-taking and blame the latest government migrant initiative.
The number of HMOs residences in the Bolton area has risen from 170 to 720 in recent years, according to local authority data, although only some will be housing asylum seekers.
Locals are angry at the overcrowding, lack of housing for Brits and claims single parents with families have been evicted from homes, which have been turned into HMOs by private landlords eager to cash in.
A mum told The Sun how going through this caused massive upheaval for her family.
She said: “My landlord gave me a Section 21. During my seven year tenancy, they didn’t fix anything – it was very run down.”
The landlord said she needed it back as she was moving back to the UK, the mum stated.
“But a month after I left, migrants were living there.
“She’s disrupted my whole family life to house migrants there. This year has been an absolute disaster.
“I know a lot of people are going through it, with Section 21s being issued.
“Every second person has been issued a Section 21 with migrants moving in after.”
‘CALLING ALL LANDLORDS’
In the run-up to Labour’s Renters’ Rights Bill – which abolished ‘no-fault’ evictions – there was a flood of renters being evicted using Section 21s before it became illegal.
Many landlords previously used ‘no-fault’ evictions to kick tenants out in order to dramatically raise rent or sell up.
And many jumped at the opportunity to instead house migrants under a Government scheme.
The scheme offers landlords five years’ full rent guaranteed, plus council tax and bills paid. This means there’s no risk of debt collectors knocking on the door.
Contractors such as SERCO, Clearsprings and Mears Group are running the HMOs which are described as “dispersal accommodation”.
SERCO posted on its website: “Calling all landlords.”
“Are you a landlord? We are looking for landlords with properties available in the North West, Midlands or East of England. All types of properties will be considered.
“These include traditional HMOs, family property, residential and student accommodation.
“We are contracted to provide accommodation, transportation and subsistence payments for asylum seekers whilst their claims are being processed.”
It then lists the benefits for landlords, including a long-term lease, funded repairs, property management, no void period and no agency fees.
In towns like Horwich and Nuneaton, landlords kicking out families in favour of accepting this scheme is a massive issue.
Campaign group just Say No to HMOs Horwich has pushed Bolton Council to introduce an Article 4 Direction, meaning all new HMOs now require planning permission.
One member cited a case of a two-bedroom home being converted into a five-bedroom HMO next door to her.
PRICING LOCALS OUT
Independent Councillor David Grant, who has backed the group, said: “Ultimately, so many HMOs have appeared in the last 12 months because of the Government’s decision to empty asylum hotels through Operation Scatter.
“[Serco] identify one area and then advertise heavily in that area for the maximum number they can do all at once before they move on to another area.”
He added: “If you have a family home that you can rent out for £700 and then you have a government contact that comes along for an HMO house and you can rent it out for £3,000 a month with no liabilities, no maintenance and no adherence to any rules or regulations, then the landlord is going to do that.
“This is the main concern around Horwich with migrants. That has the knock-on effect that there are fewer and fewer family homes to rent which drives the price up.
“It prices local people out of the area of where they want to live, and that drives people out whose families have been part of the community for generations.”
Bolton Council said it had brought in tough new rules to control the number of homes being converted into rental properties for multiple tenants with Article 4 in June.
Meanwhile in the market town of Nuneaton, Warwickshire, the number of asylum seekers has skyrocketed to 247.
Factory worker Steve, 43, who has lived in Nuneaton all his life, told The Sun: “The place is full of migrants which has upset and angered a lot of people.”
“Not that we have anything against them, but it’s very unfair that they are being put up for free in our hotels and houses.
“A family-of-four were booted out of their house after two years because the landlord has been given a Home Office contract to put up migrants.
“I reckon they get more money for doing this, and it’s guaranteed income.
“With the cost of living crisis, some tenants may not be able to afford their rent, whether they get state handouts or not,” the dad-of-two added.
Former county council worker Linda, 72, added: “This town is being taken over by immigrants.
HMOs becoming asylum battleground
Controversial houses in multiple occupation are an affordable option for low income people to rent a room instead of splashing out thousands on renting a flat.
But more and more houses are being converted into HMOs – leaving families with no where to call home.
In areas where there is a surplus of HMOs, locals report rowdy behaviour, crime, and the smell of drugs and cigarettes.
Areas once family-friendly neighbourhoods are being turned into no-go zones.
Now, they’re being used to house asylum seekers too – and the already tense situation could boil over.
Last year, a Tory report claimed that migration is to blame for almost 90 per cent of housing shortfalls.
The influx is piling pressure on public services — but especially on housing, say MPs Robert Jenrick and Neil O’Brien.
Meanwhile tenants are being hit with skyrocketing rents, spending months looking for a home and being forced to pay thousands of pounds upfront.
In popular areas, tenants are competing with dozens of others to get a property, and homes can be snapped up within hours of being listed – meaning some renters end up searching for months.
Priority used to be given to those who would spend the most, forcing applicants to offer well over the listed rental price to get any chance of securing a property – until Labour banned the practice.
Other renters have had to pay huge upfront costs to secure a property – sometimes up to six months rent.
And poor living standards are rife in private rental properties.
Just under a quarter of private rentals – some 23% – in England did not meet the decent home living standard in 2021/22.
Rented homes are six times as likely to be affected by damp as owner-occupied homes.
Housing charity Shelter said that before the new legislation, it saw more and more people being kicked out of their homes through Section 21 no-fault eviction notices and then struggling to find anywhere else they can afford to rent.
Last year, The Sun reported that tenants outside of London are charged an average £1,314 a month.
It means renters must find £83 extra a month, or £996 more a year for housing than in 2023, according to the figures from Rightmove.
In the capital, rents have kept rising to a record £2,661, four per cent more than the £2,567 of a year ago.
Rightmove found the pace of rent hikes is slowing, but there is still a big gap between available rental properties and demand.
Each rental property has 17 would-be tenants, while the number of available homes to rent is 20 per cent lower than 2019.
“The Government is doing nothing to help the British people. The Prime Minister should be ashamed of himself for allowing migrants to flood into our country.”
The small town saw tensions reach boiling point earlier this year, when protesters clashed with police outside the town hall.
It was triggered by allegations that two men, reportedly Afghan asylum seekers, raped a 12-year-old girl in the town.
Ahmad Mulakhil, 23, is accused of rape, while Mohammad Kabir, also 23, is charged with kidnap, strangulation and aiding and abetting the rape of a girl under 13.
Both appeared at Warwick Crown Court where they entered not guilty pleas to the charges.
Mulakhil used a Farsi interpreter, while Kabir was assisted by a Pashto interpreter.
Their immigration status was not discussed during the hearing but both men are believed to be Afghan asylum seekers.
The pair were remanded into custody ahead of a provisional trial on January 26, 2026.
‘THIS YEAR HAS BEEN AN ABSOLUTE DISASTER’
It comes amid a growing immigration crisis in the UK, and the Home Office is struggling to find places to house asylum seekers.
This summer, there were nationwide protests outside migrant hotels, sparked by an asylum seeker in Epping sexually assaulting a teenage girl.
This led to the Government promising to end the use of hotels for migrants.
But it has struggled to find anywhere to put them.
Some disused army barracks are being converted into migrant accommodation, despite protests from locals nearby.
And some are being put up in what used to be family homes.
It comes after The Sun revealed TikTok landlords are boasting about their “totally passive” income from renting to asylum seekers while living it up in Dubai.
The property owners are flaunting their glam lifestyles on social media as they advise others on how to make “government backed income”.
There is no suggestion these landlords are evicting families to house migrants in their homes.
Luigi Newton, who is based in Dubai, claims to own a portfolio of 31 properties in the UK, largely around Nottinghamshire and seven are leased to SERCO to house asylum seekers.
Managing these properties from the city, he brags on TikTok how he “escaped the 9-5 by owning £7 million” in property, encouraging others to follow his lead.
The 30-year-old told The Times that “landlords are being forced to find other solutions” because “the housing system is favoured towards tenants who abuse the system”.
In one of his online posts, Luigi has taken a sunset snap next to the pool with the caption: “Most of my properties are social housing HMOs, so they’re fully passive – no late-night tenant calls, no endless viewings, no hassle.
“Just government-backed income dropping in every month.”
Labour MP, Chris Murray, who sits on the Home Affairs Select Committee, said it “boiled his blood” to see these landlords “creaming profit from the asylum system so brazenly”.
He added the system in its current form is “disastrous for the taxpayer”.
As of March 2025, almost 67,000 asylum seekers were living in these accommodations across the country.
Meanwhile, many Brits are struggling to get on the property ladder, or to even find affordable places to live amid a housing crisis.
Horwich Council said the issue had not been brought to its attention when approached by The Sun.
A Serco spokesperson said: “Serco only rents properties that are empty.
“We would not rent from a landlord who is seeking to evict tenants in order to rent the accommodation for asylum seekers.”
