A hotel in Maidstone, Kent, could be converted into a 42-bedroom house in multiple occupation (HMO) just a year after undergoing a £500,000 refurbishment, sparking objections from local residents. Owner Mark Smith says he closed The Grange Moor, recently rebranded The Apartell, in December after a decline in customers, and turned down repeated approaches from organisations wanting to use it to house asylum seekers, instead wanting it to serve local people in need. Nearby residents have strongly objected to the planning proposal, raising concerns about the scale of the development and its impact on an already stretched neighbourhood.

Plans submitted to the council would convert the three-star hotel into 42 co-living units with communal workspaces, a gym, laundry facilities, garden and allotment space, parking, solar panels and bicycle storage. Objectors argue the area, Fant, already has more HMOs than anywhere else in Maidstone, with residents citing strain on GP surgeries, schools and policing, while one described the neighbourhood as having become "a ghetto." The proposal comes amid a wider national debate on asylum accommodation, with Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood pursuing a mixed model including HMOs, and Home Office figures showing 97,519 people were receiving asylum support at the end of March, including nearly 21,000 in hotels.