Report tenancy fraud

If you suspect a case of tenancy fraud you can:

Examples of tenancy fraud

Tenancy fraud can take several different forms. 

• Unlawful subletting - where a tenant lets out their council or housing association without the knowledge or permission of their landlord.
• Abandonment - where a tenant parts possession with their socially rented property, has no intention to return and does not inform the landlord.
• Right to buy/acquire - where a tenant has applied for or completed the purchase of a socially rented home under the right to buy/right to acquire scheme when they are not entitled or misrepresented their circumstances to gain a discount.
• Wrongly claimed succession - where a tenant dies or moves out and someone who is not entitled to, tries to take over or wrongly succeed the tenancy.
• Unlawful assignment - where a resident stops using their tenancy as their main or principle home, allowing another person to live there without permission.
• Key selling - where a tenant is paid to pass on their keys in return for a one-off payment.

What happens after you report someone

We will look at the information you give. We will only take action if we find the person has been committing tenancy fraud. Action can include asking for money to be repaid, terminating the  tenancy, or taking them to court. Depending on the offence, the outcome of any prosecution can vary from community hours, a fine or in the most serious cases imprisonment.

Why we need to stop tenancy fraud

Tenancy fraud cost councils £135.6m in 2018/2019 with over 3,500 cases reported and investigated. There's nearly 1.15 million people on the waiting list for housing, these are the people who are being denied help because of those committing tenancy fraud.