Tenancy fraud, also known as housing fraud is when a social home is being used by someone who is not entitled to occupy it. This is when people are living in our homes without the right to do so.
It’s against the law and a breach of our tenancy agreement. It also denies homes to those most in need.
The different types of tenancy fraud:
1. Unlawful subletting – where a tenant rents out their home without our knowledge or permission. Examples of subletting include:
- Short-term lets – this is now commonly via holiday rental platforms such as Airbnb
- Letting to a longer-term tenant, sometimes by advertising the property with an estate agent.
Under the Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Act, (which came into force in 2013), unauthorised subletting of social housing is a criminal offence in England and Wales.
2. Wrongly-claimed succession – where a resident dies and someone without entitlement tries to take over or succeed the tenancy. (this is more common in General Needs Housing and unlikely to happen in Temporary Supported Housing)
3. False Right To Buy/Right To Acquire – where a tenant gives false information in a Right to Buy or Right to Acquire application. (Right to Buy does not apply for Short Term Temporary Housing)
4. Key selling – where a resident is paid to pass on their keys in return for a one-off payment.
5. Non-occupation: When a tenant fails to use their social property as their only or principal home. They may, for instance, have moved in with a partner and so no longer need the home, but have not informed us of their change in circumstance or allows another person to live there without our permission.
6. Obtaining housing by deception – where a person gets a home by giving false information on their housing application
What we do to prevent, detect and tackle tenancy fraud
- We ask for people’s proof of ID and proof of income and entitlement to claim Welfare Benefits prior to offering a tenancy
- Because we provide temporary supported accommodation, we conduct an assessment with each person applying for our accommodation. The assessment is to ensure that they meet the service criteria which includes having housing related support needs
- We carry out regular support visits and tenancy checks to make sure that the right people are living in our properties.
- We work with other social landlords and statutory agencies to detect fraud.
- We investigate reports of possible tenancy fraud.
Report tenancy fraud
If you think someone in our accommodation services may be subletting their home or living elsewhere, please report this to us. Any information you give us will be treated in confidence and your identity will be protected.