St Albans City and District Council is one of 147 local authorities to have been awarded £10,000 by the Government to carry out in-depth investigations to identify properties that have been illegally sublet by existing council and housing association tenants.
Subletting is an increasing problem in the social housing sector and the Council will be working with housing associations to crackdown on this practice. Rents charged by council tenants when they sublet are higher than the rents that they pay to the Council or housing association.
The grant was given to the Council by the Department of Communities and Local Government along with advice and guidance on how best to tackle housing fraud and a range of posters and leaflets to be used to encourage people to come forward with information on local fraudsters.
Cllr Joyce Lusby, Portfolio Holder for Housing Services at St Albans City and District Council, said: “This grant will help us to stop this fraudulent practice effectively which denies homes to families in need.”
The Council’s housing department will be conducting in-depth investigations using information from other council departments and external organisations to help identify tenants who may be subletting council and housing association-owned properties. Home visits and surveillance will then be used to check who is actually living at the addresses concerned.
The Audit Commission has suggested that in some parts of the UK between 1 – 5% of council and housing association properties have been unlawfully acquired or sublet, totalling as many as 50,000 homes nationwide.
Historically council and housing association landlords have had problems in finding enough evidence to bring legal action to evict tenants and their sub-tenants and recover the property through the courts.
This initiative is designed to help overcome this issue. The Government is also offering a reward of £500 to any individual who provides sufficient information that leads to the recovery of a property. This will only apply to the first 1,000 homes recovered under the initiative. As evidence will be needed to bring eviction proceedings and regain possession of the property, this information must be more than just a name and address. The reward will only be paid once the property has been recovered and is available to be used to house genuine housing applicants.
Anyone who has information about subletting or wants to know more about the reward can call the Council’s telephone hotline on 01727 819231 and speak in confidence to a Housing Management Officer or send an email to tenancy.fraud@stalbans.gov.uk.
For more information about the national housing fraud initiative go to the Department of Communities and Local Government's website.
Member contact:
Cllr Joyce Lusby, portfolio holder for Housing Services
Tel: 01727 863260
Contact for the press:
Amanda Wilkinson, communication officer
St Albans City and District Council
Tel: 01727 819317
E-mail: amanda.wilkinson@stalbans.gov.uk
www.stalbans.gov.uk