Tenancy Fraud

There are around 98,000 council or housing association homes in England that are occupied by someone who shouldn’t be living there. This can be a result of tenancy fraud.

It is a criminal offence for tenants to commit tenancy fraud, which can involve:

• Sub-letting or giving up a property to someone else without your landlord’s permission;
• Leaving the property empty and not telling the council you have left;
• Passing on the keys to someone else for a one-off payment;
• Obtaining the property by deception by failing to disclose your full, correct details and personal circumstances when applying for social housing;
• Wrongly claiming succession rights by trying to take over the tenancy when you are not entitled to.

The maximum penalty for housing fraud is up to two years in prison and a fine of up to £50,000.

There is not enough social housing to meet the needs of people who genuinely need it. Therefore, we have to make sure our homes go to those who are legally entitled to them. People waiting for social housing will have an even longer wait if homes are occupied by those who have no right to be there.

You can complete our online form if you think someone is committing tenancy fraud. You can also phone the fraud hotline number in confidence on 01233 330456, or email us. You can also report benefit fraud on the same number.

You can also report squatters or unauthorised occupants.