Asylum Seekers - Rent
Scam
An
asylum seeker bragged about how he makes a
fortune from renting out the house given to him
for free. And thousands more nationwide are
feared to be profiting from identical scams
because authorities cannot keep tabs on them. The
immigrant, named only as Gabi, told an undercover
reporter he makes £350 a month by illegally
sub-letting his two-storey maisonette to other
asylum seekers. Gabi is supposed to live in the
two-bed home in Smethwick, West Midlands, after
it was allocated to him by Sandwell Council but
he actually lives in London, and drives to
Smethwick in his BMW each week to collect his
dodgy rent, plus his £176 dole cheque.
He said, “There's no country like this
country.” The scam works because asylum
seekers know that councils and immigration chiefs
do not have the resources to check on them.
Romanian-born Claudia, once an asylum seeker
herself, said after her investigation, “Many
were simply abusing the system and took all they
could from UK taxpayers. Their attitude is
something akin to, ‘Well, you lot are
stupid. If you offer it, we’ll take
it’.” Gabi’s house, No8 Scribbans
Close, is owned by a businessman who rents it out
to the council, which then made it available to
refugees. But furious neighbours say the council
is powerless to check the “steady flow”
of immigrants moving in and out.
Tenants’ association secretary Sharon
Blackburn said, “No8 has been a real source
of trouble. I’ve never met Gabi but there
has been a constant stream of refugees in and out
of there. They would all have been paying rent in
cash to someone. It’s a simple way of making
a lot of money quickly. An asylum seeker acquires
a house from the council and then sub-lets to
other people he knows are coming in to the
country. In one of the maisonettes there are two
Iranians and a Kurd living without running water.
But they are paying three lots of rent to someone
because locks have been put on the doors claiming
it’s three flats. It’s going on all
over, but who can stop it?”
Asylum
seekers are raking in a fortune by illegally
letting out homes the Government gives them for
free. They line their pockets with cash by
sub-letting to other foreign workers and
students. The scam makes millions of pounds a
year, and costs the treasury hundreds of
thousands in unpaid tax and is rife in
Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester.
REFUGEE JERZY KACPEROWICZ
WHAT HE GETS
FREE
£2,025 a month: £1,500 rent allowance,
£520 income support, family allowance and
£20 child clothes allowance
WHAT HE GETS FROM SCAM
£720 a month tax free
Shortly
after arriving in Britain, he arranged for his
wife, Martyma Majewska, and their three children
to come too. Hammersmith and Fulham Council - the
authority responsible for their welfare pay their
£1,500-a-month rent to a private letting agent.
During their five-year stay in Britain, the
family have never once paid for accommodation.
Jerzy Kasperowicz, whose children ride brand new
bikes - wants to claim more benefits to help with
buying a car and the cost of bus and train fares
and for furniture.
REFUGEE EWA HUCZKO
WHAT
SHE GETS FREE
£800 a month: £438 income support plus
extra child benefits, £350 housing benefit,
plus disability allowances
WHAT SHE GETS FROM SCAM
£540 a month tax free
Ewa
Huczko and her husband Franciszek receive
£350-a-month housing benefit for their
three-bedroom flat in the Royal Borough of
Kensington and Chelsea, but they sub-let the
bedrooms for £45 each, raking in an extra £540
a month.
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