Housing fraud
Types of housing fraud
There are different types of housing fraud. Here are some of the most common:
Unlawful subletting
When a tenant lets out their Council or housing association home without the knowledge or permission of their landlord they are unlawfully subletting.
They often continue to pay the rent for the property directly to their landlord, but charge the person they are subletting to a much higher rate. It is not fair to sublet and to profit from a property which could be given to someone in greater need.
Obtaining housing by deception
When a person gets a Council or housing association home by giving false information in their application, for example not telling the landlord they are renting another Council or housing association property, they are committing housing fraud.
Wrongly claimed succession
When a tenant dies, there are rules that say what should be done with the tenancy. Unentitled claiming of a property when a tenant dies is when someone, who is not entitled, tries to take over the tenancy. For example, they might say they lived with the tenant before they died, when in fact they were living elsewhere.