The Government are appealing to landlords to host asylum seekers, with private contractors working on their behalf, offering five-year guaranteed rent deals. 

Private contractor Serco – one of three working for the Home Office –  are offering five-year guaranteed rent deals to landlords, with the taxpayer footing the bill. 

Their website states the company is responsible for housing over 30,000 asylum seekers, with an ‘ever growing portfolio’ of over 7,000 homes. 

The firm organised an event at a four-star hotel in the Malvern Hills next month, as part of their drive to house more asylum seekers, according to The Telegraph. 

Serco is said to be ‘looking for’ landlords, investors and agents, with properties in the North West, the Midlands and the east of England to lease for more than five years.

The deal also reportedly includes promises of rent paid ‘on time every month with no arrears’, free property management, full repair and maintenance, as well utilities council tax bills paid by Serco.

Its promotional material claims to prospective clients that the offer is ‘an attractive and competitive proposition within the industry’.

It comes as the number of Channel migrants in small boats surpassed 9,500 this year so far – a third up from the previous all-time high.

Dozens of migrants were seen disembarking from a Border Force vessel at Dover following the death of an unnamed male on April 18

Dozens of migrants were seen disembarking from a Border Force vessel at Dover following the death of an unnamed male on April 18

The stretcher was taken from Border Force catamaran, Typhoon, along the quayside on April 18, 2025

The stretcher was taken from Border Force catamaran, Typhoon, along the quayside on April 18, 2025

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer pictured during a meeting with President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer pictured during a meeting with President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen

At the same period in the record-breaking year of 2022, this figure stood at 6,691 in, while last year is reached 5,916 during the same time frame.

It is understood that it has been the Government’s statutory duty to accommodate destitute asylum seekers since 2005. 

A Home Office spokesperson said: ‘These arrangements with the private rented sector have been in place for years, including under the previous government. 

‘We have a statutory duty to support destitute asylum seekers who will not be able to pay for fees such as utilities and council tax.

‘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.’

It comes as 184 migrants crossing the Channel in three separate boats were intercepted by Border Force on Monday. 

As such this month’s total has been brought up to 2,918 migrants and 52 boats having made the perilous journey. 

That same day, French authorities rescued 42 migrants whose vessel had engine failure, later dropping them off in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France.

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A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, from a Border Force vessel on April 8, 2025

A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, from a Border Force vessel on April 8, 2025

A drone view of a packed dinghy crossing the English Channel last August

A drone view of a packed dinghy crossing the English Channel last August

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Authorities also tried to help another struggling boat, however only four of the occupants accepted help. 

The remaining passengers continued towards the English coast, according to French reports.

In March 4,586 people successfully made the deadly crossing in 80 boats thanks to unseasonably calm weather off the coast of Kent.

However this month has seen the highest number of arrivals in the single day so far this year, with 705 migrants arriving from 12 dinghies on April 15.

A Home Office spokesman previously said: ‘We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security.

‘The people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay and we will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice.

‘That’s why this government is investing in border security, increasing returns to their highest levels for more than half a decade, and imposing a major crackdown on illegal working to end the false promise of jobs used by gangs to sell spaces on boats.

‘We have already secured agreement from the French to deploy a new elite unit of officers at the coast, launch a specialist intelligence unit, increase police numbers and introduce new powers for the French authorities to intervene in shallow waters.

‘We are introducing tougher enforcement powers with new legislation and intensifying our collaboration with France and other countries who face the same challenges by exploring fresh and innovative measures to dismantle the business models of the criminal smuggling gangs.’

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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk