A father is accusing authorities of not doing enough to monitor young asylum-seeking men – leaving them free to disrupt residents on a Canterbury housing estate.

Dad-of-three Paul Hazleden says the level of supervision of refugees in houses usually rented out to students on the Hales Place Estate is virtually non-existent, making life intolerable for residents.

One Iraqi teenager who spoke to KentOnline's sister paper the Kentish Gazette this week says he only sees his social worker around once a week.

Mr Hazleden, 48, discovered in October that young asylum-seekers had moved into a house in Westerham Close, a quiet cul-de-sac he lives in off Headcorn Drive.

“It’s always been students before that and I only found out they were asylum-seekers when I asked,” Mr Hazleden said.

“No one had told us. For the first few weeks they were very disruptive. They’re young men and they stay up all night, they don’t have any responsibilities and they get packets of money delivered by the postman.

“I understand that they’ve been through a lot and we’re not trying to demonise them, but there is no supervision of them.

“They need to be properly monitored.

“There was some infighting here between men from different countries and there was a bad pair from Morocco a few months ago. They’ve gone, but there are still issues.”

Police confirmed that they had been to the Westerham Close house twice since the start of the year to a report of broken windows on February 5 and because of a confrontation between the occupants and neighbours on January 19.

Officers gave four occupants of the house “advice on their behaviour”.

Mr Hazleden, a self-employed courier, says he is concerned about the way the occupants of the house live and how much public money is spent on them.

“The whole thing seems to cost a lot money,” he said.

"I understand that they’ve been through a lot and we’re not trying to demonise them, but there is no supervision of them" - Paul Hazleden

“An agency in London has to find a place for them to live and they go through a landlord in Canterbury who charges Kent County Council. We’re the ones who pay for it.

“For a place like the one in Westerham Close, you’re probably looking at around £3,000 a month for rent and bills.”

Mr Hazleden suspects that with student numbers diminishing, landlords are making their properties available to the county council, which has to find accommodation for people claiming asylum in the UK.

Another house in nearby Hovenden Close is also being rented out to asylum seekers.

Neighbour Don Dobson, 82, said: “They’re not much trouble. One day one of them came out and demanded money off me so I told him where to go.

“But he didn’t live there and it looked like the others wanted rid of him because he was a trouble- maker.”

KCC spokesman Ella Hughes said: “We continually monitor the welfare and behaviour of children in our care, whether UK citizen children or asylum-seeking children.

“We take any suggestion that unaccompanied asylum seeking children may be causing a nuisance very seriously and work to address any concerns.

“The county council is happy to speak to local residents if they wish to raise issues with us.”

One of the asylum-seekers living in Westerham Close is an Iraqi Christian who fled the Islamic State last summer.

Delan Alian understands that both his parents have been killed and says he has no news about the plight of his twin brother, Dader.

Speaking to the Gazette this week, Delan, 18, said: “I came here in a lorry as I had to escape Isis.

"Isis kill everyone. They kill other Muslims and they kill Christians. My country is really bad" - Delan Alian

“Isis kill everyone. They kill other Muslims and they kill Christians. My country is really bad.”

Delan’s passage out of Iraq was arranged by his best friend’s father, a wealthy businessman.

When he arrived in the UK, he was first housed at a migrant centre in Ashford before being moved to Canterbury.

The five-bedroom house he currently shares with two other young men is sparsely decorated, but clean and habitable.

Delan’s social worker visits him once or twice a week.

“He is a very good man,” Delan said. “I had wanted to get into college here, but that hasn’t happened.

“All I want is to be left alone and to be allowed to stay and start a new life. I never want to go back.”

The man who runs social services in Kent admits the system is not perfect.

Peter Oakford’s department has the onerous responsibility of finding homes for young asylum-seekers who arrive in the UK.

He says this necessarily involves locating accommodation in housing estates and streets where permanent residents live.

Speaking to the Gazette yesterday (Wednesday), he said: “We have had a couple of issues as a result of this, but these are exactly the same issues as you might get with students who keep different hours or play their music a little louder than others.

“There might be other problems like them not taking their litter out and I am aware that things likes this present challenges to us.”

Mr Oakford is the county council’s cabinet member with responsibility for specialist children’s services.

He insists that complaints around young asylum-seekers are often raised by neighbours who object to their presence.

“We had one where someone complained that they were sitting in a park,” he said. “That’s all they were doing, sitting in a park.

“It’s not perfect, but I can tell you that they are monitored and they are visited by social workers and housing officers.

“We use an agency in London which finds places suitable for accommodation.”

KCC has a duty of care to any unaccompanied children below the age of 18 who fall under its care regardless of their backgrounds. It extends until they are 21.

Kent Refugee Help is worried that government plans pose a serious threat to the well-being of teenagers who fail their asylum applications.

Campaigners took concerns that young people may end up destitute and living on the streets to Canterbury and Whitstable MP Julian Brazier earlier in the year.

If passed, the Immigration Bill will allow landlords to end tenancies, sometimes without a court order, when asylum requests fail. It also aims to target those working illegally.

"Destitution will not deter refugees from coming here nor encourage them to leave" - Kate Adams

Kate Adams, of Kent Refugee Help, said: “We are pleased that Mr Brazier listened carefully to us and said he would raise the issue of the destitution of refugee children.

“But let us be clear, destitution will not deter refugees from coming here nor encourage them to leave.

“People come because they have to. It is not a lifestyle choice. Moreover, asylum seekers are not entitled to social housing and are routinely placed in private sub-standard accommodation administered by private companies whose only intention is to make a profit.

“Refugees are not to blame for our housing crisis, which resulted from the sale of council houses by the Conservative government and a failure to control spiralling rents.

“Making refugee children homeless to pay for this is both shocking and indefensible.”

The Rev Steve Coneys team rector for the Anglican churches in Whitstable, worked with young asylum-seekers at a centre in Whitstable.

He said: “I would be very anxious that they are getting properly looked after if they are being placed in local authority rented accommodation.

“The Kent Refugee Action Network is very good and does excellent work with them, but of course their capacity is limited.

“From my work with these young men, it’s clear they are very motivated to learn English and English customs and get on and engage.”