Overview
- The Home Office vacated all residents on Thursday, June 11, leaving only security at the Bell Hotel in Epping as a precaution over fire-safety regulations.
- Ministers have formally told Epping Forest District Council they will terminate the hotel contract and the site will stop being used for asylum housing on July 11, 2026, with residents relocated elsewhere in the asylum estate.
- The hotel became a flashpoint last year after resident Hadush Kebatu was convicted of multiple offences including the sexual assault of a 14-year-old, a case that triggered large and sometimes violent protests and a costly police response.
- Epping Forest District Council previously sought court injunctions to stop the hotel’s use but lost in the High Court and Court of Appeal and says it was not warned in advance about the recent evacuation and closure plans.
- The move fits a wider Home Office policy to close asylum hotels and move people into basic accommodation such as ex-military sites, a change the department says has cut the hotel asylum population by about 35% in the last year and 63% from the earlier peak.