Tenancy fraud crackdown saves £5m

One city council is claiming to have cracked down on tenancy fraud, which recovered 36 homes and stopped fraudulent housing claims to help save taxpayers nearly £5 million.

Birmingham City Council said its tenancy fraud team made the savings during the past year by investigating illegal subletting, false social housing applications and fraudulent Right to Buy claims.

The work also covered tenants who were not living at their registered addresses and people attempting to take over council tenancies unlawfully after a resident had died.

The recovered council homes were re-let to families in need.

Another 210 housing applications were cancelled, while 12 Right to Buy applications were stopped.

Tenancy fraud not tolerated

Coun Baber Baz, the council’s member for housing, said: “Tenancy fraud deprives people of a much-needed home – we will not tolerate it and will use the full extent of the law to root out people abusing the system.

“Demand for housing in Birmingham is at an all-time high, with more than 35,000 people on the housing register in Birmingham waiting for a good and safe home.”

He added: “It is therefore extremely welcome that we are taking action to ensure each council home goes to someone who needs it, while saving a significant amount of taxpayers’ money.

“I also want to thank the honest tenants and residents throughout the city; their tip-offs and reports are invaluable to help us combat tenancy fraud.”

Fraudulent applications

Almost four times as many Right to Buy applications were cancelled compared with the previous year.

Some applications were halted because fraud had been identified.

Others could not proceed because the applicants did not have the necessary funding.

The council said the higher number of cases detected reflected improved intelligence and not that tenancy fraud had become more widespread.

A stronger officer presence on estates, better referrals and closer working between council teams were also credited with helping investigators identify more cases.