Some council tenants are stepping over the line to make some extra pounds. The scam is costing UK taxpayers about 5 billion pounds a year. The scamming tenants can earn up to 20,000 pounds a year, and are getting better at keeping it quiet.
The scam is simple. Move into a social housing property, then sublease that same property to someone who doesn’t qualify for social housing. The question then quickly becomes apparent. What is the highest amount I can charge to someone whose option is to be homeless? The scam is not only costly to taxpayers, but morally unconscionable.
It is estimated that 80% of all tenants who are being subleased to, would not qualify for social housing. This is according to the Department for Work and Pensions.
With an estimated five million people on council waiting lists, there are unfortunately many targets to choose from.
Approximately 200,000 tenants per year are breaking the rules. These rule breakers could soon feel some heat as a new crackdown is been launched. Those who are caught breaking the rules will face the ultimate punishment-never being able to live in council housing again. That message is being sent straight from Grant Shapps (housing minister) himself.
The 1st step in the crackdown is to perform random audits to ensure the correct people are living in the dwelling.
Ministers are also soliciting the help from credit rating agencies to identify some of the wrongdoers.
The national fraud agency is also getting involved. They’re going to develop standards for contracts to access the agencies.
Shapps has strong feelings about the cheaters. He commented on the fraudulent group of tenants and how he will deal with them as housing minister, saying: “Tenancy fraud costs this country £5 billion but it’s not just the money that’s wasted.
“The housing waiting list has doubled and tenancy fraud means that tens of thousands of people who could otherwise be housed are losing out because of cheats. We cannot afford to ignore this problem.
“That’s why today I’m launching a national crackdown on tenancy fraud, bolstering the efforts of councils across the country to tackling this problem with £19 million of cash.
“I’m also going to back them further with a dedicated national action team to help tackle tenancy fraud.
“The start of today’s campaign is part of a wider Government effort to ensure council homes go to those who need them most.”
While random audits are an aggressive start to discovering some of the scam artists, the government is also assisting the councils with supplemental funds. They are providing a total of 19 million pounds to help in the effort to cut down on the fraud.
An estimated 50,000 homes are thought to be currently occupied unlawfully. The worst affected areas could have as many as one in every twenty dwellings holding tenants who should not be there.
The financial assistance will be shared among 51 councils to pay for the investigative team to perform the audits.
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It’s disgusting that at a time when the country faces huge cuts to social housing budgets and increases in rent to people who desperately need the roof over their heads that some see an opportunity to take that housing off the market and profiteer. I hope they all end up getting what they deserve.
please help me, i have been a victim of this unlawful act, i was rented a flat unknown to me to be council flat. my wife is British and qualifies for a flat but we are not on the list yet and we are being threatened by the council cause the landlord is not paying the tax, we have being paying all bills to the landlord and have spent money maintaining the property. please what can i do to prevent being made homeless