'I'd rather leave it empty!' Landlords shun 'morally irresponsible' call to house illegal migrants amid fears of 'putting up criminals'

The scheme aims to reduce the billions of pounds taxpayers are spending on hotels for migrants following a surge in Channel crossings.

Landlords have expressed reluctance to rent to tenants they cannot personally vet.

Serco currently manages accommodation for 30,000 asylum seekers across 7,000 properties throughout the UK.

The contractor had planned an exclusive event at a four-star hotel in the Malvern Hills next month to attract more property owners to the scheme.

This event has now been cancelled following backlash from landlords who admitted finding the offer ethically problematic.

Tim Prourban, a landlord with over 20 years' experience, told The Telegraph: "It's just immoral. It doesn't sit well with me. I wouldn't be able to sleep at night."

The 62-year-old from Stratford-upon-Avon added: "On a personal level, I wouldn't want to hand it over to people who basically don't deserve it, over and above people who work, pay into the economy."

Prourban described past negative experiences with migrant tenants, including property damage and vandalism.

Amanda Johnson-Clarke, who owns approximately 40 properties in Margate and Hertfordshire, also expressed similar concerns about the scheme.

"It's completely morally irresponsible. It's sending a message out to anyone thinking of making a very dangerous journey across the water that, if you get here, we're going to give you a house for five years. It's completely, utterly the wrong message," she told the broadsheet.

Johnson-Clarke worried about the reaction from other property owners in her blocks of flats if she housed tenants she could not vet, adding it would attract "rogue landlords" looking "to make a quick buck" due to the higher-than-average rents being offered.

She said: “They would be horrified if I rented out to illegal immigrants who could be criminals. I’d rather have a property empty for a month than have the wrong person in it. We regularly turn down people.”

Greg Tsuman, managing director of lettings at Martyn Gerrard Estate Agents, warned that while financial terms might seem attractive, contracts could be "extremely one sided".

Ben Beadle from the National Residential Landlords Association highlighted government inconsistency, saying: "Whilst half of Whitehall is scrabbling to hit housing targets... the other half seems hell-bent on devising ways to dissuade investment in homes."

Housing asylum seekers in private accommodation costs as little as £14 a night, compared with £145 for hotels.

The scheme was introduced more than a decade ago under the previous Conservative Government.

Last year, Chancellor Rachel Reeves blamed a £4.6billion bill for migrant hotels for worsening a £22billion economic black hole.

After GB News revealed the list of towns currently included in Serco's dispersal porfolio, a Home Office spokesman said: "The list of local authorities Serco shared on its website for landlords is not a Home Office list, nor is it a list of any existing or future asylum accommodation.

"Serco is one of several companies contracted by the previous Government six years ago to provide dispersal asylum accommodation in different regions and this list simply appears to reflect the geographical list of local authorities covered by the Serco contracts at that time.

"We are restoring order to the asylum system and cutting costs to taxpayers by reducing the number of people we are required to accommodate through a rapid increase in asylum decision-making and the removal of more than 24,000 people with no right to be in the UK."

A Serco spokesman added: "The list of councils on our website reflects local authority areas covered by our Asylum Accommodation and Support Services contract, which we have had for six years with the Home Office.

"This does not indicate the Government will be opening new accommodation in these areas."