The Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Bill now going through Parliament will, once enacted, create a criminal offence of unauthorised sub-letting, with a maximum penalty of two years’ imprisonment and a £50,000 fine.
Local authorities will be able to prosecute cases for themselves and on behalf of other local authorities and housing associations.
We welcome the measures which will give us extra leverage with suspected illegal occupiers as the threat of a police investigation will lead to more fraudsters surrendering their keys early, reducing the need for costly court action.
Tenancy fraud is not always easy to uncover. The rent may be paid on time and the suspicions of neighbours may not be passed on to the landlord. Adactus now requires callers reporting repairs over the telephone to confirm their date of birth and answer other questions as appropriate, in order to beat the cheats. It’s the same procedure you would go through if you rang your bank.
Once on the statute book, it remains to be seen how the powers will be used. Adactus works in more than 20 local authority areas and not all will be willing and resourced to take action, which will inevitably lead to inconsistencies in approach. We’ll be expecting all the local authorities to work vigorously with us to recover social housing properties from people who don’t need them.
COMMENT OPINION
Finance Columnist:
Beating the cheats
September 2012
Sub-letting cheats
The Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Bill now going through Parliament will, once enacted, create a criminal offence of unauthorised sub-letting, with a maximum penalty of two years’ imprisonment and a £50,000 fine.
Richard Houghton
Director of Operations
Adactus
The Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Bill now going through Parliament will, once enacted, create a criminal offence of unauthorised sub-letting, with a maximum penalty of two years’ imprisonment and a £50,000 fine.
Local authorities will be able to prosecute cases for themselves and on behalf of other local authorities and housing associations.
We welcome the measures which will give us extra leverage with suspected illegal occupiers as the threat of a police investigation will lead to more fraudsters surrendering their keys early, reducing the need for costly court action.
Tenancy fraud is not always easy to uncover. The rent may be paid on time and the suspicions of neighbours may not be passed on to the landlord. Adactus now requires callers reporting repairs over the telephone to confirm their date of birth and answer other questions as appropriate, in order to beat the cheats. It’s the same procedure you would go through if you rang your bank.
Once on the statute book, it remains to be seen how the powers will be used. Adactus works in more than 20 local authority areas and not all will be willing and resourced to take action, which will inevitably lead to inconsistencies in approach. We’ll be expecting all the local authorities to work vigorously with us to recover social housing properties from people who don’t need them.