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jucyberry
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This Country Is A Joke
by pkt_drfc Mon 12 Jul - 0:46:25
Somali asylum seeker family given £2m house... after complaining 5-bed London home was 'in poor area'
A family of former asylum-seekers from Somalia are living in a £2.1million luxury townhouse in one of Britain's most exclusive addresses at a cost to taxpayers of £8,000 a month.
Abdi and Sayruq Nur and their seven children moved into their three-storey property in a fashionable area of London last month because they didn't like the 'poorer' part of the city they were living in.
Mr Nur, 42, an unemployed bus conductor, and his 40-year-old wife, who has never worked, are now living in Kensington despite the fact that they are totally dependent on state benefits.
They live close to celebrities, including artist Lucian Freud, singer Damon Albarn and designer Stella McCartney, and their home is just minutes from the fashionable Kensington Place restaurant which was a favourite haunt of the late Princess Diana.
The family's new home is believed to be one of the most expensive houses ever paid for by housing benefit, which is administered by local councils but funded by the Department for Work and Pensions.
The disclosure that a single family has been paid so much will embarrass Ministers, who last month pledged to rein in Britain's £20billion-a-year housing benefit bill.
Mr Nur said his former five-bedroom home in the Kensal Rise area of Brent, which cost £900 a week in housing benefit, was suitable for the family's needs but he said they had felt compelled to move because they did not like living 'in a very poor area' and were unhappy with the quality of local shops and schools.
He said he found the new house through a friend who knew the landlord, arranged to rent it through an estate agent, then approached officials at Kensington and Chelsea council who said 'it would be no problem' to move.
Rules allow anyone who is eligible for housing benefit to claim for a private property in any part of the country they wish.
The £2,000 per week is paid directly to Mr Nur and his family, who then pay their landlord
Property sources say the house was being advertised locally at a cost of £1,050 per week.
The house is owned by Brophy Group Business Ltd, a British Virgin Islands company whose registered address is a post office box in Liechtenstein.
No one from the firm, which bought the house for £2.1 million in 2007, was available for comment.
Mr Nur said: 'The new house is good enough and it is near the school and the shops. We need a house this big because we have so many children.
'The old house was good but the area was not so good. It was a very poor area and there were no buses, no shops and the schools were too far.
'The old house was four or five bus stops away from the primary school attended by two of my children.
'Soon, all three of our younger children are going to be at primary school and we can't take them all on the bus. Now they are going to a school which is just down the road.'
From September, his children will attend a school located just 20 yards from their new front door - which has been rated as outstanding by Ofsted.
They previously attended a school in Kensal Rise which was rated as satisfactory
But Mr Nur said his neighbourhood also had other advantages. 'I like the neighbours and there does not seem to be much crime.'
He added: 'They have very full shops here and they are still open at 2am. Unlike at Kensal Rise, where they closed at 7pm or 8pm.'
Mr Nur, who lost his £6.50-an-hour job as a bus conductor 18 months ago, claims officials at Kensington and Chelsea council said they 'didn't care' about his decision to move into the borough, which they said was 'not a problem'.
The family's three-storey property, which dates from the 1840s, has five bedrooms, two bathrooms, a fully fitted kitchen and a garden.
The family's living room, which boasts a large bay window, is dominated by a 50in LG flatscreen TV. It also has two large black leather sofas, two elaborate rugs and lush houseplants.
Neighbours of the family last night expressed their shock at the amount of housing benefit being claimed.
Nigel Melville, 65, a company director, said: 'To be paying that much out in housing benefit is ridiculous - it's too much. I suppose they had to be housed somewhere, but it's an awful lot of money.'
Mr Nur worked for the Red Cross in Somalia and married his wife in 1993.
The couple subsequently fled their homeland because of civil war and were granted asylum in Britain in 1999.
The couple's four oldest children, who are aged between 12 and 16, were all born in Somalia. The youngest three children were born in Britain.
Mr Nur last night acknowledged the family was lucky to have the new home, but he insisted his family 'were no better or no worse off than anyone else'.
He also insisted he was doing his best to find a job.
'I am looking for a job. I am taking a course to train me in how to get a job. I would like any job. Anything in food production or warehouses would be fine.'
The current housing benefit system was overhauled by the last government in April 2008. Labour Ministers introduced new caps on the amount claimants could receive, depending on the size and location of the property.
But instead of bringing costs down, the new system encouraged many landlords to raise rents to the level of the maximum allowable.
The new government has announced further sweeping changes to the housing benefit system, which will come into effect next April.
The new rules mean claimants living in a four or five-bedroom house will no longer be able to claim more than £400 a week.
The changes have led to warnings that thousands of families will be forced out of existing homes into cheaper properties.
But critics say the changes are essential because of mounting concern about the size of some individual claims, particularly in London.
Earlier this year, it emerged that Essma Marjam, a single mother of six, was being paid nearly £7,000 a month so that she could live in a five-bedroom villa in Maida Vale.
In December, Francesca Walker, a mother-of-eight who also lived in Kensington and Chelsea, defended her £90,000-a-year housing benefit claims for a £2 million villa in Notting Hill.
She said the family were completely justified in living there because the council could not find a big enough property.
The London borough of Kensington and Chelsea last night declined to comment on the specific circumstances of the Nur family's claim.
The council said it had a responsibility to meet the needs of claimants who were eligible for benefits and was powerless to stop people moving into private accommodation in the area.
A spokesman said: 'We have been saying for some years now that the way in which the maximum level of housing benefit is calculated is flawed and we welcome the Government's new changes which begin next year.
'The sums of money that many families claim for housing in the capital and elsewhere is an example of an unreasonably generous benefits system which is open to abuse.'
A spokesman for Brent Council said: 'Households, whether they are claiming benefits or are in work, are able to make their own arrangements in terms of renting privately, as long as they can find a landlord with a suitable property.
'This includes decisions about where they live.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1293730/Somali-asylum-seeker-family-given-2m-house--complaining-5-bed-London-home-poor-area.html
A family of former asylum-seekers from Somalia are living in a £2.1million luxury townhouse in one of Britain's most exclusive addresses at a cost to taxpayers of £8,000 a month.
Abdi and Sayruq Nur and their seven children moved into their three-storey property in a fashionable area of London last month because they didn't like the 'poorer' part of the city they were living in.
Mr Nur, 42, an unemployed bus conductor, and his 40-year-old wife, who has never worked, are now living in Kensington despite the fact that they are totally dependent on state benefits.
They live close to celebrities, including artist Lucian Freud, singer Damon Albarn and designer Stella McCartney, and their home is just minutes from the fashionable Kensington Place restaurant which was a favourite haunt of the late Princess Diana.
The family's new home is believed to be one of the most expensive houses ever paid for by housing benefit, which is administered by local councils but funded by the Department for Work and Pensions.
The disclosure that a single family has been paid so much will embarrass Ministers, who last month pledged to rein in Britain's £20billion-a-year housing benefit bill.
Mr Nur said his former five-bedroom home in the Kensal Rise area of Brent, which cost £900 a week in housing benefit, was suitable for the family's needs but he said they had felt compelled to move because they did not like living 'in a very poor area' and were unhappy with the quality of local shops and schools.
He said he found the new house through a friend who knew the landlord, arranged to rent it through an estate agent, then approached officials at Kensington and Chelsea council who said 'it would be no problem' to move.
Rules allow anyone who is eligible for housing benefit to claim for a private property in any part of the country they wish.
The £2,000 per week is paid directly to Mr Nur and his family, who then pay their landlord
Property sources say the house was being advertised locally at a cost of £1,050 per week.
The house is owned by Brophy Group Business Ltd, a British Virgin Islands company whose registered address is a post office box in Liechtenstein.
No one from the firm, which bought the house for £2.1 million in 2007, was available for comment.
Mr Nur said: 'The new house is good enough and it is near the school and the shops. We need a house this big because we have so many children.
'The old house was good but the area was not so good. It was a very poor area and there were no buses, no shops and the schools were too far.
'The old house was four or five bus stops away from the primary school attended by two of my children.
'Soon, all three of our younger children are going to be at primary school and we can't take them all on the bus. Now they are going to a school which is just down the road.'
From September, his children will attend a school located just 20 yards from their new front door - which has been rated as outstanding by Ofsted.
They previously attended a school in Kensal Rise which was rated as satisfactory
But Mr Nur said his neighbourhood also had other advantages. 'I like the neighbours and there does not seem to be much crime.'
He added: 'They have very full shops here and they are still open at 2am. Unlike at Kensal Rise, where they closed at 7pm or 8pm.'
Mr Nur, who lost his £6.50-an-hour job as a bus conductor 18 months ago, claims officials at Kensington and Chelsea council said they 'didn't care' about his decision to move into the borough, which they said was 'not a problem'.
The family's three-storey property, which dates from the 1840s, has five bedrooms, two bathrooms, a fully fitted kitchen and a garden.
The family's living room, which boasts a large bay window, is dominated by a 50in LG flatscreen TV. It also has two large black leather sofas, two elaborate rugs and lush houseplants.
Neighbours of the family last night expressed their shock at the amount of housing benefit being claimed.
Nigel Melville, 65, a company director, said: 'To be paying that much out in housing benefit is ridiculous - it's too much. I suppose they had to be housed somewhere, but it's an awful lot of money.'
Mr Nur worked for the Red Cross in Somalia and married his wife in 1993.
The couple subsequently fled their homeland because of civil war and were granted asylum in Britain in 1999.
The couple's four oldest children, who are aged between 12 and 16, were all born in Somalia. The youngest three children were born in Britain.
Mr Nur last night acknowledged the family was lucky to have the new home, but he insisted his family 'were no better or no worse off than anyone else'.
He also insisted he was doing his best to find a job.
'I am looking for a job. I am taking a course to train me in how to get a job. I would like any job. Anything in food production or warehouses would be fine.'
The current housing benefit system was overhauled by the last government in April 2008. Labour Ministers introduced new caps on the amount claimants could receive, depending on the size and location of the property.
But instead of bringing costs down, the new system encouraged many landlords to raise rents to the level of the maximum allowable.
The new government has announced further sweeping changes to the housing benefit system, which will come into effect next April.
The new rules mean claimants living in a four or five-bedroom house will no longer be able to claim more than £400 a week.
The changes have led to warnings that thousands of families will be forced out of existing homes into cheaper properties.
But critics say the changes are essential because of mounting concern about the size of some individual claims, particularly in London.
Earlier this year, it emerged that Essma Marjam, a single mother of six, was being paid nearly £7,000 a month so that she could live in a five-bedroom villa in Maida Vale.
In December, Francesca Walker, a mother-of-eight who also lived in Kensington and Chelsea, defended her £90,000-a-year housing benefit claims for a £2 million villa in Notting Hill.
She said the family were completely justified in living there because the council could not find a big enough property.
The London borough of Kensington and Chelsea last night declined to comment on the specific circumstances of the Nur family's claim.
The council said it had a responsibility to meet the needs of claimants who were eligible for benefits and was powerless to stop people moving into private accommodation in the area.
A spokesman said: 'We have been saying for some years now that the way in which the maximum level of housing benefit is calculated is flawed and we welcome the Government's new changes which begin next year.
'The sums of money that many families claim for housing in the capital and elsewhere is an example of an unreasonably generous benefits system which is open to abuse.'
A spokesman for Brent Council said: 'Households, whether they are claiming benefits or are in work, are able to make their own arrangements in terms of renting privately, as long as they can find a landlord with a suitable property.
'This includes decisions about where they live.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1293730/Somali-asylum-seeker-family-given-2m-house--complaining-5-bed-London-home-poor-area.html
pkt_drfc- Rovers Fan
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Re: This Country Is A Joke
by yorkie64red Mon 12 Jul - 1:08:50
I wish you would stop posting these things Pete, you know its not good for my blood pressure... 
lets hope that the new Government put a stop to it , i mean hes from Somalia probably used to a mud hut.. 
lets hope that the new Government put a stop to it , i mean hes from Somalia probably used to a mud hut.. 
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Re: This Country Is A Joke
by jucyberry Mon 12 Jul - 4:02:50
Stop selling council houses..
Start building, or even take over old estates and revamp.
we need social housing more than ever, if so many had not been removed from the councils lists this 'problem' wouldn't be reaccuring so frequently!
I live in a council house, I have never had any desire what so ever to buy it, even if I could afford to. when I die, some other young family will have a chance of a home. That is what they were designed for.
Not as a bloody gift for the tenants kids to fight over when the former tenant pops his clogs.
Start building, or even take over old estates and revamp.
we need social housing more than ever, if so many had not been removed from the councils lists this 'problem' wouldn't be reaccuring so frequently!
I live in a council house, I have never had any desire what so ever to buy it, even if I could afford to. when I die, some other young family will have a chance of a home. That is what they were designed for.
Not as a bloody gift for the tenants kids to fight over when the former tenant pops his clogs.
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Re: This Country Is A Joke
by hoolahoop Mon 12 Jul - 5:25:02
jucyberry wrote:Stop selling council houses..
Start building, or even take over old estates and revamp.
we need social housing more than ever, if so many had not been removed from the councils lists this 'problem' wouldn't be reaccuring so frequently!
I live in a council house, I have never had any desire what so ever to buy it, even if I could afford to. when I die, some other young family will have a chance of a home. That is what they were designed for.
Not as a bloody gift for the tenants kids to fight over when the former tenant pops his clogs.
Do you know I had never thought of it that way, it's certainly made me reconsider my attitude to housing.
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Re: This Country Is A Joke
by yorkie64red Mon 12 Jul - 5:38:28
hoolahoop wrote:
Do you know I had never thought of it that way, it's certainly made me reconsider my attitude to housing.
Don't see what any of that has got to do with some immigrant been given a mansion to live in..
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Re: This Country Is A Joke
by pkt_drfc Mon 12 Jul - 5:41:03
Bri i would not start too many people on the side of the immigrants i agree with you by the way
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Re: This Country Is A Joke
by hoolahoop Mon 12 Jul - 6:11:30
yorkie64red wrote:
Don't see what any of that has got to do with some immigrant been given a mansion to live in..
No I was just thinking of the reason for council houses advantages/disadvantages etc. The mansion thing is just bloody disgusting imo.........immigrant or British it's irrelevant who but why anybody would allow such decisions to take place.
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Re: This Country Is A Joke
by jucyberry Mon 12 Jul - 8:08:39
there is no disadvantage at all as I can see it in a council house.
I have never been able to see why owning a house is so desirable. it seems like too much of a headache. if I to lose my job, or get ill, my home is safe, and it is that, my home. Just because I don't have a piece of paper saying I own it, this house has been my home for twenty years.
As for the whole but I want something to leave to my kids bit, well, I'm afraid I don't subscribe to that one either. every thing I have my kids are welcome to, not that I have much, I'm not into posessions overly. at least I know my kids will be devastated at my passing, and not working out how much mother has left them....lol..
As for the house in question, i would think that living in london, even a ratty semi would go for thousands more than the equivilant house in most parts of the country, so perhaps the word mansion is more a sensationalistic journalists way of drumming up a little more hatred for those at the other end of the financial / ethnic scale.
I have never been able to see why owning a house is so desirable. it seems like too much of a headache. if I to lose my job, or get ill, my home is safe, and it is that, my home. Just because I don't have a piece of paper saying I own it, this house has been my home for twenty years.
As for the whole but I want something to leave to my kids bit, well, I'm afraid I don't subscribe to that one either. every thing I have my kids are welcome to, not that I have much, I'm not into posessions overly. at least I know my kids will be devastated at my passing, and not working out how much mother has left them....lol..
As for the house in question, i would think that living in london, even a ratty semi would go for thousands more than the equivilant house in most parts of the country, so perhaps the word mansion is more a sensationalistic journalists way of drumming up a little more hatred for those at the other end of the financial / ethnic scale.
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Re: This Country Is A Joke
by yorkie64red Mon 12 Jul - 8:17:46
The advantage of owning a house for me is that when i retire if i live that long is that the mortgage will be paid off so wouldn't have to pay rent, there are some advantages to renting like it is much easier to move whenever you want but it can be more expensive to rent then buy so to me its a no brainer, personal choice really .
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Re: This Country Is A Joke
by jucyberry Mon 12 Jul - 8:32:30
The trouble is the way the world is turning, by the time you and I retire, the state will in all probability be making people sell their homes to pay for their own care,in an even more ruthless way than it already does. Already a house is a disposable asset.
As for the future elderly like me, well lord alone knows what will become of us.... I have to say Brian, I wonder how rosy either of our old ages will be...
I have to also add, I wouldn't want to be a private renter either. My security comes from the fact that I have a council house.
As for the future elderly like me, well lord alone knows what will become of us.... I have to say Brian, I wonder how rosy either of our old ages will be...
I have to also add, I wouldn't want to be a private renter either. My security comes from the fact that I have a council house.
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Re: This Country Is A Joke
by LEEDSLAD/03/01/2010 Mon 12 Jul - 9:00:39
Bit off topic....what i dont get is...their knocking dwon loads of streets and blocks when theres a shortage of council housing? so why knock them down, would be much easier and cheaper for the council just to referb it
And the people who did live on those streets. Where the fcuk are they now?
And the people who did live on those streets. Where the fcuk are they now?
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Re: This Country Is A Joke
by hoolahoop Tue 13 Jul - 6:22:59
Stuck in grotty council flats or paying the earth to some greedy private landlord no doubt.
This is the only country in Europe and the States ,as far as I'm aware, that has such a high ratio of privately owned properties.
Because of the shortage and general lack of competition between private landlords , we have the ridiculous rents that the poor have to pay if they aren't in a position to buy or able to get council housing.
Renting property at almost 'peppercorn' rates compared to our average rents is the norm. Plainly a ridiculous state of affairs driven by the laws of supply and demand is causing this problem .
Housing Associations and the like help to ease the problem but we do need a plentiful supply of council house stock and rules to 'cap' private landlords from profiteering from mainly the poor and the disadvantaged.
This is the only country in Europe and the States ,as far as I'm aware, that has such a high ratio of privately owned properties.
Because of the shortage and general lack of competition between private landlords , we have the ridiculous rents that the poor have to pay if they aren't in a position to buy or able to get council housing.
Renting property at almost 'peppercorn' rates compared to our average rents is the norm. Plainly a ridiculous state of affairs driven by the laws of supply and demand is causing this problem .
Housing Associations and the like help to ease the problem but we do need a plentiful supply of council house stock and rules to 'cap' private landlords from profiteering from mainly the poor and the disadvantaged.
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Re: This Country Is A Joke
by jucyberry Tue 13 Jul - 7:59:37
Another thing that gets me is the assumptions about the families decor, they have a big t.v and nice rugs and pot plants. So A, some snouty bastard has been peering through their windows,
and B, the opinion is fosterd that they have these things because they are on benefits. Mr Nur had been in work , at the same time he would have been entitled to working family tax credits, as do the majority of people with kids who might not like this story. On a large family such as theirs, seven kids under 16 i believe, that is a lot of perfectly legal credits. It is not beyond the realms of possibility that their furnishings were purchaced then........
But that doesn't read so well as how very dare they be immigrant scroungers taking money of us jolly Englanders does it?
and B, the opinion is fosterd that they have these things because they are on benefits. Mr Nur had been in work , at the same time he would have been entitled to working family tax credits, as do the majority of people with kids who might not like this story. On a large family such as theirs, seven kids under 16 i believe, that is a lot of perfectly legal credits. It is not beyond the realms of possibility that their furnishings were purchaced then........
But that doesn't read so well as how very dare they be immigrant scroungers taking money of us jolly Englanders does it?
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Re: This Country Is A Joke
by ste303 Sat 17 Jul - 1:17:49
Being an immigrant myself I have a totally different prospective on things from most posters on this forum.........
I really feel the most important issue has been overlooked here, and that would be the size of Juceyberries norks........
I really feel the most important issue has been overlooked here, and that would be the size of Juceyberries norks........
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Re: This Country Is A Joke
by jucyberry Sat 17 Jul - 7:47:43
Didn't you know, I'm a bloke called fred and they are plastic............................? 
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Re: This Country Is A Joke
by ste303 Sat 17 Jul - 11:21:20
nowt wrong with plastic knockers......... if they are good enough for Gazza, they are good enough for me......
oh Fred........... you dirty dirty man!
oh Fred........... you dirty dirty man!
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