After Epping’s court win, more councils weigh legal action to evict asylum seekers from hotels

Councils across England are preparing to launch a wave of legal action to force asylum seekers out of hotels, following a dramatic High Court ruling in Essex that blocked migrants from staying at The Bell Hotel in Epping.

The injunction, granted to Epping Forest District Council, has sent shockwaves through Whitehall and emboldened other authorities. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has vowed that all 10 councils under his party’s control will “do everything in their power to follow Epping’s lead”.

The Conservative-led Borough of Broxbourne in Hertfordshire is already moving in that direction. The council confirmed it is seeking urgent legal advice on whether it can replicate Epping’s strategy to stop asylum seekers from being housed in a Cheshunt hotel.

Pressure is mounting elsewhere, with ministers acknowledging that more councils may try to shut down hotels used by the Home Office. Border Security Minister Dame Angela Eagle struck a cautious note, pledging the government would “continue working with local authorities and communities to address legitimate concerns”.

Yet not all councils are willing to pursue the courtroom route. South Norfolk District Council, also Conservative-run, has rejected the idea of an injunction over a hotel in Diss. Instead, leader Daniel Elmer said the authority is relying on planning rules to ensure that families, rather than single men, are accommodated locally.

The political temperature rose further when Farage penned an article in the Telegraph urging “peaceful protest” by those “concerned about the threat posed by young undocumented males living in local hotels”. His intervention comes after a string of demonstrations in Epping, where thousands of people took to the streets.

Those protests turned violent at times, with Essex Police charging 16 people over clashes. The unrest followed criminal charges against two men residing at The Bell Hotel. Hadush Kebatu, a 41-year-old asylum seeker, has denied sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl. Another resident, 32-year-old Syrian national Mohammed Sharwarq, faces two counts of common assault and four counts of assault by beating.

Epping Forest District Council argued before the High Court that the hotel had become a danger to the community and was also being used in breach of planning rules. The judge agreed, despite Home Secretary Yvette Cooper’s last-minute attempt to have the case thrown out.

In granting the injunction, the court ordered asylum seekers to leave The Bell Hotel by 16:00 BST on 12 September. The decision marks a rare instance of a council successfully blocking Home Office policy. Judges in similar cases in the past have refused to intervene.

The government’s legal team warned that the ruling could have far-reaching consequences, encouraging further protests and undermining the Home Office’s statutory duty to prevent breaches of asylum seekers’ human rights.

Still, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, whose North West Essex constituency borders Epping, seized on the case as evidence of wider strain. “Epping is one of the many towns struggling,” she said, vowing to bring back “a proper deterrent” and immediately remove “all illegal arrivals”.

The ruling now presents both practical and political pain for ministers. On the one hand, it intensifies demands from councils and campaigners to shut down asylum hotels more quickly. On the other hand, it risks fuelling a patchwork of legal challenges that could seriously hamper the government’s ability to house asylum seekers while long-term solutions are found.

Dame Angela Eagle has insisted the government remains committed to closing all asylum hotels by the end of this Parliament. But with local authorities now testing the courts, the fight over where—and how—asylum seekers are housed is only just beginning.