Tenancy Fraud
- Application fraud – where a prospective tenant knowingly provides false information or withholds information on their housing application in order to gain a property, or applies for multiple properties in different locations and through different landlords
- Key-selling fraud – where a tenant or an employee of a housing association receives a one-off payment to give the keys of a property to someone who is not entitled to live there
- Right to Buy/Right to Acquire fraud – where a tenant knowingly provides false information or withholds information when applying to buy the house they live in under the scheme
- Subletting fraud – where a tenant rents out all or part of their property on a short or long-term basis to someone else for private rental rates without the knowledge or permission of the landlord
- Succession fraud – where a person who doesn’t have the right to succeed to a tenancy provides false information or withholds information when applying to succeed
- Illegal occupation – where a person with no right to do so moves into a property either after the tenant has left or pressures the tenant into letting them stay at the property.
If the person living in the home is not the tenant, they could be committing tenancy fraud. If you are a tenant caught committing tenancy fraud, you are likely to lose your home, which could make you ineligible to apply for social housing in the future. You could also be fined and/or sent to prison.
If you are not the tenant, we will take legal action to remove you from the property, and you are likely to make yourself ineligible to apply for social housing in the future.
You can read our Social Housing Fraud Prevention Policy here.
How you can help
Residents are the eyes and ears of our estates. If you suspect it, report it. Tenancy fraud is a criminal offence and something we take very seriously. Please get in touch with our Customer First Team on 01626 322722, option 2.