Somali asylum seeker laughing over £2,000-a-week Kensington home paid for by benefits



Looking for work: Abdi Nur at the door of his Notting Hill home

An unemployed Somali bus conductor living with his family in a luxury Kensington home has defended their right to live in the posh suburb at taxpayers' expense.

Abdi Nur laughed yesterday after answering his door to howls of protest about the £2,000-a-week home he shares with his wife Sayruq and their seven children.

'I am in my rights to live here,' he told The Sun. 'You are fussing about nothing.'

Neighbours have called for the family to be evicted.

They said it was a 'disgrace' that a family on benefits is given a home that most working families would be unable to afford.



The family had previously been satisfied living in a smart five-bedroom house in Brent, North-West London, at a cost of £900 a week in benefits.

But last month, Mr Nur spotted a vacancy in nearby Notting Hill. Kensington and Chelsea council gave permission to upgrade.

Mr Nur, 42, and his wife, 40, sought asylum in Britain in 1999 from Somalia, where he worked for the Red Cross.

He has worked in Britain as a bus conductor, but lost his job 18 months ago, and is now looking for jobs in 'warehouses or food production'.

The Nurs' new house is owned by a company based in the British Virgin Islands.

It was on the market last year for a rent of £1,050 a week, but the rent has since been set at £2,000 - the maximum available-under housing benefit.



Wealthy neighbours include Blur singer Damon Albarn, fashion designer Stella McCartney and the painter Lucian Freud.

Mr Nur said yesterday: 'The new house is good enough. We need a house this big because we have so many children.'

Andrew Holmes, 47, who lives down the road from the Nurs, said that the sum paid out by the council was 'a disgrace'.



Mr Holmes added: 'I want the council official responsible to be fired first thing on Monday morning and I would like the family to be evicted and put into social housing.

'The message that this sends out is, "Have lots of kids and move to Notting Hill and everyone else will pay for it".'

Matthew Sinclair, research director of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: 'It's absolutely outrageous that this family have been into such an incredibly expensive home when so many ordinary working taxpayers are struggling with the rent following the recession.'

A spokesman for Kensington and Chelsea Council refused to comment on the specific case, but said it had a responsibility to meet the needs of those eligible for benefits.

However, he admitted that the current benefits system was 'unreasonably generous' and 'open to abuse'.



Upgrade: The Nurs' old house in Brent (left) and their new Notting Hill home







