Fraudulent Right to Buy application thwarted

With a current maximum discount of £87,200 there is a huge incentive for fraudsters and so we check every application thoroughly to ensure only those tenants who are genuinely eligible can benefit.

Our Tenancy Fraud Team scrutinise each Right to Buy request, including checking against the original allocation of the property. In this case, they discovered the tenants had lied about the number of household members (and the number of bedrooms required) when they had originally applied for the property through a mutual exchange.

Despite the tenants signing a declaration that the information given was accurate and truthful, our checks found that this was not the case. We discovered that a non-dependant had in fact bought their own property prior to the exchange and should not have been included in the household.

This meant the property had been allocated following a false declaration and so we had no choice but to deny the Right to Buy application. The tenants have missed out on the chance to purchase their council home and have instead been given the option to downsize to a smaller property.

Checking Right to Buy applications is just one of the ways we track down housing cheats, take back council homes and ensure fraudsters face the full force of the law. Each incident of housing fraud costs us as a council thousands of pounds – in terms of investigating, legal costs and getting properties ready for genuine tenants. This is money that could be put to much better use improving your homes and neighbourhoods.

Please help us stamp out housing fraud by letting us know if you have any suspicions about suspected fraud in your neighbourhood. Please contact your Local Housing Office , email us, call our Tenancy Fraud Team on 023 8091 7610 or report tenancy fraud online. All reports will be treated in the strictest confidence and can be made anonymously.