We have a limited availability of homes and our lettings are prioritised according to housing needs.
If someone fraudulently becomes a council tenant or sublets their home for personal gain, they use up precious resources that should be available to the people who are most in need.
Tenancy fraud can include...
- providing incorrect information or false claims, about your identity or circumstances, when applying for housing
- subletting part or the whole of your property to others
- failing to use a property as your principal home
- wrongly claiming a right to succession - succession is keeping a tenancy following the death or departure of the tenant
- ‘key selling’ - this means leaving a property and passing the keys on in return for money or favour
Any incidents of unlawful subletting and tenancy abuse will be taken seriously and investigated. Early action will be taken if required.
We’ll look into any information provided to us where necessary, in order to verify it. We may also share information provided to us with several of our departments in order to compare and check details, as well as with other organisations such as the Department for Works and Pensions.
We’ll take legal action to end any tenancy which may have been granted as a result of false or misleading statements made by a tenant(s).
Let us know
If you suspect someone of tenancy fraud it’s important that you report it to us so that we can investigate the situation fully. You can do this by...
- Filling in the online fraud reporting form
- Contacting or visiting your local housing office