Couple's horror as council tries to buy their house for asylum seekers

An elderly couple who had just moved into their £200,000 house were horrified to receive a letter from their council suggesting the property could be subject to compulsory purchase and used to house asylum seekers.

Jose and Ted Saunders said they were 'insulted and shocked' when the strongly-worded letter from North Northamptonshire Council – which has never balanced its own books - dropped on their mat last month.

It said their neat mid-terraced house in Rushden, near Wellingborough, was deemed to be an empty property, or was 'derelict' and the council could even force them to sell it.

'I couldn't believe it,' said retired carer Jose, 76. 'We moved to Rushden to help provide childcare for my grand-daughter and found this nice little place to live.

'The idea of forcing us to sell it to make room for refugees and asylum seekers seems totally wrong.'

The letter, headed 'Empty Properties and sites initiative' had their exact address in bold and stated: 'We are writing as we have reason to believe that the above-named premises… is empty or unused.

'The Government has identified empty privately-owned properties as a potential cause o blight within communities, and as a wasted resource at time of high housing need.'

The letter continued that the council was seeing a 'considerable increase' in positive immigration decisions being made in favour of asylum seekers, mainly single men, and the authority was 'struggling' to source suitable accommodation for them.

It added: 'The ideal long-term solution would be to provide accommodation by using empty properties which would benefit owners and the project.'

It said the council could make a compulsory purchase order on the property.

North Northamptonshire Council has never managed to balance its budget since its inception in 2021. The council has said increased pressures from demand-led services have driven up costs.

Added Jose: 'It was all the more worrying as we'd only moved in last November, so we still hadn't received the deeds for the house.'

Retired driving instructor Ted, 78, and his wife called the council and asked what was going on.

Three days later they received an apology, saying their staff had mistakenly ear-marked the house for possible compulsory purchase, but the Saunders were still baffled by the policy itself.

'What on earth is the council doing forcing people to sell their houses – and even an empty house is owned by someone – so that asylum seekers can live in them?' asked Jose.

'The answer to this is to stop them coming in the first place, not to force people out of their homes.'