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.
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