A last-minute accommodation cancellation upset 168 British students’ plans as they were told their housing contracts, set to start in September, had been made null and void to make room for illegal migrants.
According to an exclusive LBC radio report, the property manager, Prestige Student Living, had confirmed that the agreements with the students—who were soon to start their courses at Huddersfield University in Yorkshire—had been “terminated with immediate effect.”
This follows an agreement reached between Huddersfield Student Management, the property’s landlord, and the Home Office.
“This decision is beyond the control of Prestige Student Living. Our team took immediate action to inform students and help them secure alternative accommodation in Huddersfield and return all payments made to us,” the property manager said in a statement.
“We deeply sympathize with the students affected by the news and will do all we can to support them,” it added.
The students had already made payments to the landlord ahead of moving into the luxury HD1 studio flats, which have a going rate of £200 a week.
Some students had already been residing in the apartment building (a 405-bed property, now completely off-limits to students) after extending their stay from last year.
The luxury student accommodation boasts “boutique studio rooms” with a “comfy bed, private en-suite bathroom, a large study space, ample storage space, and modern kitchenette.”
As reported by LBC, the property offers other amenities such as a cinema room, a games area, a gym, and a communal lounge—ostensibly now all open for the new arrivals to make use of, free of charge.
Barry Sheerman, Labour’s longest continuously serving MP, and who represents Huddersfield, told MailOnline: “It is a total mess. There was pressure at one stage back in the day for universities to recognise they were education experts but not residential experts.”
“A lot of universities,” he continued, “sold all their accommodation to the private sector … Because of that now what seems to have transpired is that these guys have said, ‘Oh this is nice, we get more money if we put asylum seekers in’.”
“Quite ruthlessly,” he concluded, “they have dumped students who have built all their hopes and plans on these rather nice residences they thought they were going to get.”
Talking to GB News, Director of the Higher Education Policy Institute Nick Hillman said he had “never come across anything quite like it!” as he called for a “more sensible solution.”
Responding to the outcry, a Home Office spokesperson said the government had “always been upfront” about the “unprecedented pressure” being put on its asylum system, which was “brought about by a significant increase in dangerous and illegal journeys into the country.”
Not addressing the Huddersfield situation specifically, the spokesperson added that they “continue to work across government and with local authorities to identify a range of accommodation options,” and that it “remains committed to engaging with local authorities and key stakeholders as part of this process.”
The UK government has sought to relocate hundreds of asylum seekers from expensive hotel accommodations (costing the taxpayer over £6 million a day) to less costly alternatives, such as barges (if free of disease) and even disused RAF hangars.
Huddersfield would, however, mark the first time it proactively interfered in its citizenry’s plans for accommodations.
