Episode 2 Council House Crackdown


Episode 2

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Transcript


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I'm Michelle Ackerley.

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My parents both grew up on council estates and, as a family,

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we understand the difference social housing can make to people's lives.

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But across the UK, there's a chronic shortage of

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council and housing association homes.

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I know so many friends

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and so many people that just literally

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don't have anywhere to live.

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Adding to the crisis, some tenants are abusing the system,

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holding on to properties they no longer need, or even worse,

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unlawfully subletting them and coining in a small fortune.

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Subletting social housing is wrong.

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It's wrong. It's illegal and it's wrong.

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So every day, we'll be with the

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housing investigators as they crack down on those rogue tenants...

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Country court bailiffs.

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ELECTRIC DRILL

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-..reclaim properties...

-Anybody in?

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..and give them to families in genuine need.

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All of those keys are yours.

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Oh, don't cos you'll start me off again.

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This is Council House Crackdown.

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Our reporter, property expert Luke Doonan, also grew up

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on a council estate.

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And for the last six months, he's been working alongside

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dedicated housing investigators who will stop at nothing

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to track down every single tenant who's abusing the system.

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Today, we're with investigators as a grandmother

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appears in court, charged with illegally subletting her

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council flat in a tenancy fraud spanning more than eight years.

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The message is quite clear to her. She was very upset. She was crying.

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Her family are upset. You know, just don't sublet your properties.

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A man suspected of subletting his flat was exposed

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when he gave an interview in a local paper,

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revealing he was the landlord of a pub.

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I think what changed his mind is when we told him

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-that social housing fraud is a criminal offence.

-Yeah.

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And the mystery of the family who disappeared

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and left their flat abandoned for nearly two years.

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-Anybody in?

-This is not what I expected. I'm speechless, actually.

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Absolutely speechless.

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It's estimated that 98,000 social housing properties in England

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alone are being illegally sublet.

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And with a desperate shortage of housing in many areas,

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it costs councils an average of £18,000 a year for every

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family housed in temporary accommodation.

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All of which means...

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The London Borough of Greenwich, with its rich, royal

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and maritime traditions, a growing population,

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and nearly 35,000 social housing properties.

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Our first case is about a 60-year-old grandmother who

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is at the centre of a tenancy fraud spanning more than eight years

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and is now, finally, about to face justice.

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This is Jacqueline Willoughby.

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She's been living here, at this council flat,

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for nearly 30 years, or at least that's what everyone thought.

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In reality, she moved out in 2007

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and has been cheating the system ever since.

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Today, Mrs Willoughby is due to appear in court,

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and we're with the housing officers as their investigation

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reaches its conclusion.

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Greenwich Council investigator Karen Evans is about to brief her

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manager, Nigel Brown, about the case.

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Jacqueline Willoughby. She's 60 years of age.

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She brought her children up there.

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The tenancy, she had for about 30 years,

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so it was their, you know, their family home, if you like.

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Then, in 2007, she met someone, got remarried

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and moved out of her three-bedroom council flat.

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She meets and marries a gentleman

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who lives round the corner, basically.

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She effectively leaves the property.

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But instead of handing her keys back,

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she let a family member stay there instead.

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And, making things worse, investigators believe

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she made a deliberate attempt to cover up her actions.

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I believe that she has deprived the council of the use of that

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property since, therefore, August of 2007.

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She left the property and she continued to pay all of

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the bills herself, all the rent payments and everything.

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Any communication with the local authority was via her,

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so she disguised the fact that she had left the property.

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It was a deliberate act.

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Tenants are obliged to inform the council or housing association

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when they move out of their social housing property.

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Failure to do so is a breach of their tenancy agreement.

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No-one can pass a social housing tenancy on to another person,

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not even a family member.

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However, you can apply to take over a tenancy, and this will be

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considered on the basis of whether the property meets your needs.

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In 2014, seven years after Mrs Willoughby moved

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out of the flat, the other relative also decided to leave.

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But the family still didn't give the property back to the council.

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Instead of giving the property back,

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it was sublet to other people for a profit.

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It was about double the rent that we were charging,

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that was being paid by the subtenants.

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What was the weekly rent on our property?

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The rent was £127 a week.

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And what's she been charging at in later years?

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Monthly it's £1,000, nearly £1,100.

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Thanks to new legislation,

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investigators were able to look into Mrs Willoughby's bank records

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and see exactly how much money was going into her account.

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Some was even marked rent and bills.

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Over several months, thousands of pounds had gone into her account.

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Over the years, it amounted to approximately £13,000.

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So really, for the last seven years or so,

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she's been subletting her tenancy, and we've had to house other

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people because of the fact she's deprived us of our own property.

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She's taken that property and kept it for herself,

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decided who she wants to live in there

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instead of returning it to us.

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By holding on to a flat she wasn't entitled to, Mrs Willoughby

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was stopping someone else from having a home of their own.

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Not only that, but the council had to pay a much higher rate

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to house someone in temporary accommodation.

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As a result, somebody on our housing waiting list has had to be housed in

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alternative accommodation at a far greater cost each week.

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So, yeah, the amount of money involved from the time we say

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she left the property, something in the region of £102,000 in losses.

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But that wasn't all.

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After six years of misusing her property,

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the tenant was about to make her biggest mistake.

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In 2013, she applied to buy the family flat under the

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Right to Buy scheme, and in doing so, tried to fraudulently claim

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a huge discount on the market value of her home.

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Coming up, we find out what happens

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when Mrs Willoughby is confronted with her criminal activity in court.

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-So what has Mrs Willoughby been charged with?

-Four counts of fraud.

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I can understand some people subletting

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because they've gone and moved away for six weeks

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and want to come back and can't afford to keep it

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over that period of time.

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But to hear that they're subletting just for money, I don't...

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No, they should be definitely kicked out

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and have to repay back that money.

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It shouldn't be seen as an income generator for someone

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privately that can afford it. They should move off the system.

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There's plenty of other ways that they can probably make their money.

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Take it off them and then, what do you call,

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let the taxman crawl up their backside,

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looking through their accounts and get the money back off them.

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Because at the end of the day, as a taxpayer,

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you and I have been robbed.

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Since the government first recognised the need for

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social housing after the First World War,

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council homes have been built in a huge variety of shapes,

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sizes and locations.

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Here in the village of Beare Green in Surrey,

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some of these bungalows are part of the local housing association stock.

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In our next case, housing officers suspected that one of their tenants,

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a 63-year-old man, was renting this bungalow out and living elsewhere.

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The facts only came to light

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when he couldn't resist giving an interview to a local newspaper.

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Luke's gone to meet fraud manager Steve Baker

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from Mole Valley Council.

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It was a tip-off from neighbours that first alerted Steve that

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all was not well.

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-The housing association received a tip-off from another tenant.

-OK.

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And they pass that information on to us, which is

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what they do on all of their

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suspicious social housing fraud cases now.

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We received information that our tenant in the property wasn't

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actually living there,

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and they believed he was subletting to another young couple.

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Steve's first step was to make an unannounced visit at the property.

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We're just coming into the village now where the property's located.

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This is quite stunning, isn't it?

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I mean, I'm sure there are so many people that wouldn't even

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dream that you would have social housing in this location.

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It's a real, proper country village, isn't it?

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Yeah, and we're right next to a station as well.

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As you can see, it's a lovely area.

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A property in this area for the council to build would probably

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cost about £200,000.

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And we have people who are waiting to be housed

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in these sort of properties.

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Of course, yeah. It's quite idyllic, isn't it?

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I mean, I know it's a one-bedroom bungalow,

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but you've got your own front garden, it looks like it's

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got a back garden. It's quite stunning, really.

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When housing officers first visited the bungalow, there was no-one in,

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so they left a card asking their tenant to contact them.

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Then they started to carry out some basic checks using

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council records.

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The important thing for us was to try

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and find out where he was living, if indeed he was living somewhere else.

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So initially, we did a check of a lot of our internal records.

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We checked our council tax, electoral registration,

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housing benefits.

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And we also did some credit checks on the property.

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At first, everything seemed in order.

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The tenant was the only person on the electoral register and had

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been paying council tax at the bungalow for the past seven years.

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But financial checks revealed six of the names had had

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links to the house, including a bank current account, credit card

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and phone company connected to a young couple who seemed to

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have been there until two months previously.

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Everything was still showing him as registered at the address

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and the credit checks showed a few people as potentially being

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there, but nothing that really could be followed up.

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To some degree, we'd hit a bit of a brick wall on this one

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and weren't able to go any further.

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But investigators have a variety of tools available to them

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to make checks on suspected housing cheats.

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And in this case,

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it was a simple internet search that gave the team their breakthrough.

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Steve discovered the tenant's name online in a

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news story about a flood in Dorking town centre.

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I thought, "We'll just do a Google check on his name,

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"see if anything comes up."

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And we actually came up with a news story.

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The news story was in relation to a flood in a street in

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Mole Valley, in the Dorking area,

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and our man was quoted as being the landlord of a local pub.

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There was nothing to stop the tenant having a job in a pub,

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but being named as the landlord did potentially link their tenant

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to that address.

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And that was enough of a reason for Steve to investigate

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whether in fact he was also living there.

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This is the news article that appeared on the Google site.

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READS: Landlord of the nearby pub says,

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"It's really dangerous. During the day,

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"people notice it and can avoid it.

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"But at night-time, you could just go right into it and hurt yourself."

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He's talking about some kind of flood damage to a road, I believe,

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but clearly his name's there.

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Yes, we had no idea he was working as well.

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And obviously, we had him

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registered as being a tenant of another address.

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Armed with this extra information, Steve examined council records.

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And investigating who paid the council tax of the pub

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was about to give them a lead.

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What I did is I spoke to our council tax section, who deal with

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the business rates as well as the council tax registers,

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and asked them what they had at the pub and who they had registered.

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They didn't have our man registered there.

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However, the pub did have a flat above the pub...

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-Ah, OK.

-..and that was registered in the name of a woman.

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She was listed as the manager of the pub who divided her time

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between the pub's flat and her own home in Dorking.

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With evidence growing that their tenant

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was linked to the pub's address,

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the team used new legislation to access his financial history.

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And Steve found he'd applied for loans

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using the woman's home address.

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Once we knew the property that he may be linked to,

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-we did some further credit checks on the address...

-Yeah.

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And what they actually showed was that our man was

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registered for two loans at the lady's address.

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If he'd been living at the address he says he was living at,

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-why is he taking out finance at a different address?

-Yeah.

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The financial links to his girlfriend's address gave

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investigators enough evidence to justify a further visit to the

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tenant's bungalow to see if they could get an explanation.

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But when they arrived,

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they were greeted by a man who said he was a friend of the tenant.

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When we knocked on the door, the door was answered

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by someone we weren't expecting,

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who was another male, aged about 45 to 50,

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said he was just staying over a few days

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while the tenant was helping him out.

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But the man did confirm

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that the tenant's girlfriend was the manager of the pub in Dorking.

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Steve and the team left a message asking for

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the tenant to get in touch.

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And it wasn't long before they heard from him.

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We left a card for our tenant, and within a couple of days,

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the tenant had actually phoned us back and queried what was

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going on and arranged to come down to the office to see us.

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-So he contacted you pretty quickly?

-That's right.

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So we organised an interview with him.

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When the tenant came into the council offices,

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he was shown the financial evidence linking him to the

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woman at the pub and her house in Dorking.

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The tenant denied living at either address

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and subletting his bungalow over a number of years.

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First of all, we told him what our suspicions were.

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We told him we didn't think he was living there

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and he was illegally subletting the property.

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He, of course, denied this.

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We then started to show him some of the evidence that we had.

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But he still carried on denying that he was doing anything wrong.

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I think what changed his mind is when we told him

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-that social housing fraud is a criminal offence.

-Yeah.

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While the tenant went away to consider his options,

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the housing association's priority was to get the house

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back into their possession.

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With more than 400 people on the housing waiting list

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in the Mole Valley area, the home was desperately needed.

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And after the interview with investigators,

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the tenant made a swift decision.

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Within a couple of hours, he phoned us back and told us

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-he had in fact moved in with her and gave up the tenancy.

-Wow.

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-So a really good result for you.

-That's right.

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It's even better news for one Mole Valley family who'd been

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waiting for a social housing property.

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Within a month of the neighbour's tip-off,

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they were able to move off the council housing waiting list

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and start enjoying life in this popular Surrey village.

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It's a lovely place, and now someone who actually genuinely

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needs it is renting that property.

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I definitely think that subletting is something that should be

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cracked down upon. It is taking advantage of a system.

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The housing has been provided for the people who need it.

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If they have somewhere else to live, they don't need it.

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There was someone on my block who had a property

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and had another property in hand and was renting out to various people

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from Ireland, from all over, coming in,

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you know, paying high rent for the flat.

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But eventually they got caught.

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People that, you know, exploit that system in that way, it's,

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I guess, a shameful abuse of that system.

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The government's Right to Buy scheme has been running since 1980.

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Under the scheme, you have the right to apply to buy your council house

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and, in some cases, housing association home

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if you've been resident for three years or more.

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In 2015, the available discounts were increased to

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a maximum of £77,900 outside London

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and £103,900 in London.

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We're back in Greenwich, where today,

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grandmother Jacqueline Willoughby will be

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sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court for, first, subletting her

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council flat and then fraudulently applying to buy it.

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-What was the weekly rent on our property?

-The rent was £127 a week.

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And what's she been charging at in later years?

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Monthly it's £1,000, nearly £1,100.

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Six years after she left her council flat without informing

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the council, Mrs Willoughby made an application under

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the government's Right to Buy scheme.

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With a discount of £100,000,

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the three-bedroom council flat would cost her just £65,000.

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She then, in 2013, actually put in a Right to Buy application.

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The Right to Buy application shows a specific question.

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Is the property the tenant's only or principal home?

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And as you can see, it's been ticked yes there.

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The council asked for more information from Mrs Willoughby.

0:17:170:17:20

And when she didn't provide it, they cancelled the application.

0:17:200:17:23

But the following year, she tried again.

0:17:230:17:26

This time, the discount was calculated at £102,700,

0:17:260:17:31

putting the cost of buying her flat at £72,300.

0:17:310:17:36

The 2013 application, they didn't proceed with it.

0:17:360:17:41

They later made a declaration again to the council that they'd

0:17:410:17:46

been honest in their declarations

0:17:460:17:48

and made another actual application, completed another application form,

0:17:480:17:52

again answering that question in 2014,

0:17:520:17:55

that one was, saying that it was her main and only principal home.

0:17:550:18:00

But in Greenwich, the council investigates all

0:18:000:18:03

Right to Buy applications as a matter of course.

0:18:030:18:05

And council officers paid a visit to the flat to check

0:18:050:18:08

that she was still living there.

0:18:080:18:10

Instead of finding Mrs Willoughby

0:18:100:18:12

at what she said was her only address,

0:18:120:18:14

there was a couple living there.

0:18:140:18:16

When they went to the property, they found the subtenants there,

0:18:160:18:20

who were quite frank about the situation.

0:18:200:18:22

They were paying £1,100 to who they believed to be

0:18:220:18:25

the landlord of the property.

0:18:250:18:27

The flat was being rented for double the amount

0:18:270:18:30

being paid to the council.

0:18:300:18:31

What's more, the occupiers had no idea it was a council-owned flat.

0:18:310:18:36

The investigating team called Mrs Willoughby in for an interview.

0:18:360:18:40

We had to interview her,

0:18:400:18:42

and she answered "no comment" to all of the interview questions.

0:18:420:18:46

She gave a written statement to say that she'd just moved out

0:18:460:18:49

in the spring of 2014.

0:18:490:18:52

If her recent application for a Right to Buy had succeeded,

0:18:520:18:55

how much would she have got from us?

0:18:550:18:57

How much of a discount?

0:18:570:18:58

About £103,000, she would have received in discount.

0:18:580:19:02

With all their evidence in place,

0:19:020:19:04

Mrs Willoughby was charged with four counts of fraud -

0:19:040:19:07

one for subletting the flat,

0:19:070:19:09

and three in relation to the Right to Buy applications.

0:19:090:19:12

-So what has Mrs Willoughby been charged with?

-Four counts of fraud.

0:19:120:19:16

The first count being her not using it as her only and principal home

0:19:160:19:21

as well as the subletting, in breach of Section 3 of the Fraud Act.

0:19:210:19:25

Two, three and four all relate to the Right to Buy matters

0:19:250:19:29

because there were two applications and a further declaration made.

0:19:290:19:32

Has Mrs Willoughby pleaded to any of these offences?

0:19:320:19:35

In the previous court hearing, she pleaded guilty to all four.

0:19:350:19:38

Today, it's time for Karen

0:19:380:19:40

and Nigel to see the final result of the investigation.

0:19:400:19:43

They are going along to Woolwich Crown Court,

0:19:430:19:46

where Mrs Willoughby is appearing to be sentenced.

0:19:460:19:48

After hearing mitigation, the judge handed down his sentence.

0:19:490:19:53

Mrs Willoughby was sentenced to nine months' imprisonment,

0:19:530:19:57

suspended for two years,

0:19:570:19:59

and ordered to do 150 hours of community service.

0:19:590:20:03

And as Mrs Willoughby and the family leave court after the case,

0:20:030:20:07

both council officers hope the sentence will deter

0:20:070:20:10

others from trying to profit from social housing.

0:20:100:20:13

The result today is the lady got nine months' imprisonment,

0:20:130:20:16

suspended for two years.

0:20:160:20:18

So, basically, he took into account her age and other factors.

0:20:180:20:21

The message is quite clear to her. She was very upset. She was crying.

0:20:210:20:24

The family are upset.

0:20:240:20:25

You know, just don't sublet your properties.

0:20:250:20:27

She's now got to work 150 hours in the community, unpaid,

0:20:270:20:31

so at least she's giving something back.

0:20:310:20:33

She's now got to pay some of our legal costs, which is good.

0:20:330:20:35

I think they awarded £750.

0:20:350:20:37

We are now going to be pursuing her for our financial losses

0:20:370:20:39

of over £102,000,

0:20:390:20:42

as a result of her depriving us of our property that we could have

0:20:420:20:45

given to somebody who was actually in need of a property.

0:20:450:20:48

The Greenwich council flat at the centre of the fraud has now

0:20:480:20:51

been re-let to a new tenant.

0:20:510:20:53

You will get caught eventually.

0:20:570:20:59

I'm not saying today or tomorrow, but eventually you will get caught

0:20:590:21:02

and then everything will catch up.

0:21:020:21:05

The sort of punishments, I would think,

0:21:050:21:07

would be significant financial ones.

0:21:070:21:09

So I'd be reluctant to do prison because it simply costs money.

0:21:090:21:13

But I suppose, in the worst case,

0:21:130:21:16

prison is an acceptable outcome. But huge financial penalties.

0:21:160:21:19

I don't know what the current punishment is for misusing

0:21:190:21:22

the system, but for a start, I'd say not a lifetime ban,

0:21:220:21:28

but banning access from using that system

0:21:280:21:30

for a considerable amount of time.

0:21:300:21:32

Empty and abandoned homes can pose a real problem for councils

0:21:340:21:38

because it can be a time-consuming and costly process to recover them.

0:21:380:21:43

There's more than 65,000 social housing properties

0:21:430:21:46

currently unoccupied in England, Wales and Scotland.

0:21:460:21:50

In the busy market town of Bicester,

0:21:500:21:52

there's mystery surrounding one flat that used to be

0:21:520:21:55

lived in by a young mum and her child.

0:21:550:21:58

Tenancy fraud officers are desperate to get inside because it seems

0:21:580:22:01

the family have disappeared without trace.

0:22:010:22:05

The rent's not been paid since last year, and the mum

0:22:050:22:08

and her eight-year-old child haven't been seen or heard of for months.

0:22:080:22:12

Today, investigator Lee Mariconda is on his way to visit

0:22:120:22:15

the two-bedroom flat owned by Paradigm Housing Association.

0:22:150:22:19

He wants to know if they've abandoned the flat or

0:22:190:22:21

if there's another explanation.

0:22:210:22:23

I've done quite a few visits to this property at all

0:22:230:22:26

hours of the day - morning, afternoon, evening visits.

0:22:260:22:29

I've not been able to get access, so we're actually now going to go

0:22:290:22:32

and do a final visit, just to go and see whether or not there's

0:22:320:22:35

anybody there before we take any further action.

0:22:350:22:38

In the last two visits, I've left calling cards

0:22:380:22:40

and I've also left a letter asking the tenant to contact us.

0:22:400:22:44

And, unfortunately, I've had no response to anything I've left,

0:22:440:22:47

and nobody's been at home on any of the visits.

0:22:470:22:50

So it comes to the conclusion that they're either ignoring

0:22:500:22:53

me or there's nobody there.

0:22:530:22:55

The young mum's rent was being paid by the council

0:22:570:23:00

through housing benefits.

0:23:000:23:01

When the rent stopped being paid,

0:23:020:23:04

Lee stepped in to see what was going on.

0:23:040:23:06

Housing benefit was in payment.

0:23:090:23:10

Housing benefit suddenly stopped due to a change in their circumstances,

0:23:100:23:14

and since then, there's been no contact from that person.

0:23:140:23:16

There's been no correspondence to put housing benefit back in place,

0:23:160:23:19

to make any agreement to pay the rent arrears, not contacted Paradigm

0:23:190:23:23

at all to discuss their tenancy.

0:23:230:23:27

When a tenant abandons a home

0:23:270:23:29

and they don't inform the council or housing association,

0:23:290:23:32

investigators need to establish exactly what's happened.

0:23:320:23:35

From a personal point of view,

0:23:350:23:37

I grew up in social housing to about the age of 13.

0:23:370:23:39

I feel that social housing is there for a good reason,

0:23:390:23:41

for people in my situation,

0:23:410:23:43

when we couldn't afford to live in private rented or get a mortgage.

0:23:430:23:47

And that's why I feel passionately

0:23:470:23:49

why social housing has to be protected.

0:23:490:23:51

Lee needs to find out whether this flat has been abandoned,

0:23:510:23:54

but he's also concerned about the family.

0:23:540:23:56

His enquiries started with the neighbours.

0:23:560:23:59

I went and spoke to neighbours,

0:23:590:24:01

and all have confirmed that no-one lives there.

0:24:010:24:03

And we rely heavily on neighbours because they are the ones who

0:24:030:24:06

can see and hear things that we, social landlords, don't see.

0:24:060:24:11

With a child in the family, one way to check if they're still

0:24:110:24:14

in the county is to see if the boy is registered at any school.

0:24:140:24:18

So Lee's next mission is to get in touch with the education department.

0:24:180:24:23

One of the investigations that I carried out was

0:24:230:24:25

contacting the county council's education department to find out

0:24:250:24:28

whether or not the child was registered with

0:24:280:24:30

a school in the county.

0:24:300:24:31

Now, the county council came back to me and confirmed that the

0:24:310:24:34

child had been attending a school in the county up until a year ago

0:24:340:24:38

but no longer attends any schools in the area.

0:24:380:24:42

It just adds more weight to our suspicions that the property's

0:24:420:24:45

abandoned, and we can use that as evidence if we go to court.

0:24:450:24:49

It looks like the family might have left the area,

0:24:490:24:51

but Lee needs to make sure before

0:24:510:24:53

the housing association can take action.

0:24:530:24:56

So what I'm going to plan on doing when we get to the property

0:24:560:24:59

is just a door knock to see whether anybody answers the door,

0:24:590:25:03

have a look for the signs to see whether or not anything's changed

0:25:030:25:05

since my last visit.

0:25:050:25:07

Anything that would just indicate that there's been some

0:25:070:25:09

kind of a movement in the property.

0:25:090:25:11

And he's not taking any chances.

0:25:110:25:13

Last time he went to the flat, Lee took some extra precautions to

0:25:130:25:17

make sure he'd know if anyone was coming or going.

0:25:170:25:20

On the last visit, I left some sellotape on the lock.

0:25:200:25:23

Now, it sounds bizarre, but if you put sellotape over the lock,

0:25:230:25:26

someone's going to have to use that lock to get in.

0:25:260:25:29

And if the sellotape is still there,

0:25:290:25:30

then clearly that lock hasn't been used.

0:25:300:25:33

I also put the recycling bin on the mat in front of the door,

0:25:330:25:37

so if any one's been there, then, you know it will be moved.

0:25:370:25:40

As Lee arrives, he spots the first telltale signs that nothing's

0:25:400:25:44

changed since his last visit.

0:25:440:25:46

The bin's still where he left it four months ago.

0:25:460:25:48

The recycling box that I left in the middle of the front door is

0:25:490:25:52

still there. It's not been moved from the last visit I made.

0:25:520:25:55

As you can see, the sellotape that I put on the door is still

0:25:550:25:57

intact, there, over the lock here,

0:25:570:26:01

and also on the Chubb lock at the bottom.

0:26:010:26:04

If it's still intact, it shows me

0:26:040:26:06

that no-one's made any attempt to enter this property.

0:26:060:26:08

I am 100% sure that the property's abandoned, and this

0:26:080:26:11

sellotape's been on the lock now since...

0:26:110:26:13

for the last four months now.

0:26:130:26:14

There's nothing wrong with giving up a housing association flat,

0:26:140:26:17

but tenants are obliged to let the landlord know so

0:26:170:26:20

the property can be given to someone who needs it.

0:26:200:26:23

Now Lee can start the process to get the property back.

0:26:230:26:26

I mean, eviction's a big deal.

0:26:260:26:27

I mean, it's not something that we take lightly.

0:26:270:26:29

That's why we have to carry out all the investigations

0:26:290:26:32

that we can in order to get the property back.

0:26:320:26:34

You have to be satisfied that the property is

0:26:340:26:36

abandoned before you take eviction process.

0:26:360:26:39

This process could have been avoided if the person that was living here

0:26:390:26:43

had done the simple thing by just giving us back the keys.

0:26:430:26:45

We could have got this property back a lot quicker.

0:26:450:26:47

I'm going to go back to the office now and process the court papers.

0:26:470:26:52

Coming up, as the bailiffs move in, the housing association officers

0:26:520:26:56

are shocked by what's behind the door of the abandoned flat.

0:26:560:26:59

-I must admit, I didn't expect this.

-No.

-I have to be honest. Shock.

0:26:590:27:03

I feel if someone abandons council property, that's really unfortunate.

0:27:060:27:10

It's a real waste, you know,

0:27:100:27:12

of accommodation for people who need it. I think if that's

0:27:120:27:16

as significant in materials as you possibly suggest, I think

0:27:160:27:19

policies and procedures and processes

0:27:190:27:21

should be put in place to try and identify those properties.

0:27:210:27:24

And then make sure that those properties

0:27:240:27:26

are put to the appropriate use.

0:27:260:27:28

Well, if someone's leaving the property,

0:27:280:27:30

and actually just leaving it to rot, essentially, again that's just

0:27:300:27:33

taking a very, very valuable resource

0:27:330:27:35

from the marketplace, essentially.

0:27:350:27:37

They've got it, but then they leave it, do you know what I mean?

0:27:370:27:40

They've got it and it's a privilege.

0:27:400:27:42

It ain't a right, it's a privilege to have it.

0:27:420:27:46

Families throughout the UK are desperate for social housing.

0:27:490:27:53

But waiting lists are longest in the capital.

0:27:530:27:56

In Tower Hamlets, in London's East End,

0:27:560:27:59

there are nearly 20,000 households waiting for a social housing home.

0:27:590:28:03

Almost 3,000 have been waiting for more than ten years.

0:28:040:28:08

And six of those households have been on the waiting list

0:28:080:28:11

since the 1980s.

0:28:110:28:13

Investigating and tracking down housing fraudsters puts

0:28:140:28:18

a strain on the public purse.

0:28:180:28:19

When councils are forced to go to court to get a property back,

0:28:190:28:22

the costs can soar.

0:28:220:28:24

It can cost local authorities up to £12,000 to evict someone.

0:28:240:28:30

The tenant of one social housing flat in this tower block

0:28:310:28:34

moved out and went to live in Ghana, letting her family use the flat.

0:28:340:28:39

But even when investigators caught up with her,

0:28:390:28:41

she and her son still refused to give back the keys,

0:28:410:28:44

forcing the council to go to court and get her evicted.

0:28:440:28:49

Fraud investigator Avril Drummond was called when a man was

0:28:490:28:52

seen taking belongings out of the ground floor flat.

0:28:520:28:55

The housing officer e-mailed me to advise that on a visit to the area,

0:28:550:29:00

she had noticed that there was a gentleman clearing out the property.

0:29:000:29:05

The tenant should have been an elderly lady in her 60s,

0:29:050:29:09

but the gentleman who was there, he said he was the son of the tenant.

0:29:090:29:12

When tenants leave their social homes or there's any change in who's

0:29:140:29:17

living there, they're obliged to let the council know.

0:29:170:29:20

But in this case, there had been no communication and the housing

0:29:200:29:23

officer wanted to know why the man appeared to be clearing the flat.

0:29:230:29:28

He gave them his details, but the rent was still being paid,

0:29:280:29:32

so we started having a little bit of concern that it might be

0:29:320:29:34

being sublet or about to be sublet.

0:29:340:29:37

When he was pressed for more details,

0:29:370:29:39

the tenant's son wasn't very forthcoming with information.

0:29:390:29:42

He said he was the tenant's son.

0:29:420:29:44

He said that she'd been in Ghana for a couple of months.

0:29:440:29:47

She hadn't been gone for long and he was just changing the carpet.

0:29:470:29:52

With the tenant supposedly away in Ghana, Avril's first task

0:29:520:29:55

was to find out what was in

0:29:550:29:57

Poplar HARCA Housing Association's records about her.

0:29:570:30:00

First steps were to look back through the tenancy,

0:30:000:30:03

see who was registered at the property,

0:30:030:30:06

who the lawful tenant was, who else had been living with the tenant.

0:30:060:30:10

The records showed that the woman tenant had

0:30:110:30:13

moved into the flat in 1994.

0:30:130:30:16

The only other tenant registered at the address was her brother,

0:30:160:30:19

but he'd already moved out.

0:30:190:30:21

There was another gentleman that was registered as living there.

0:30:220:30:25

He was the brother of the tenant, but we had rehoused him as he had

0:30:250:30:30

claimed that he was overcrowded living there with his sister.

0:30:300:30:32

So we decided to go and visit the property then.

0:30:320:30:35

Avril and the team did their best,

0:30:350:30:37

but whenever they visited, no-one was at home.

0:30:370:30:40

Within a couple of weeks,

0:30:400:30:41

I made several attempts to visit the property -

0:30:410:30:45

early morning, during the day, later on in the afternoon.

0:30:450:30:49

I left calling cards.

0:30:490:30:51

Nobody contacted me to say, "Right, well, I'm living here."

0:30:510:30:54

There was no communication whatsoever.

0:30:540:30:56

The people best-placed to know what's happening

0:30:560:30:59

at a property are usually the neighbours.

0:30:590:31:01

And that was the team's next step.

0:31:010:31:03

I spoke to the neighbour who said they hadn't seen

0:31:030:31:05

the lawful tenant for years. You know, a long time.

0:31:050:31:08

And there was another male that seemed to come and go,

0:31:080:31:11

but they didn't believe there was anyone actually living there.

0:31:110:31:14

It looked like the tenant could have moved out without telling

0:31:140:31:17

the council and left the flat for the convenience of her family.

0:31:170:31:21

I started running checks on the tenant

0:31:210:31:24

and anyone else who'd been living at the property.

0:31:240:31:27

The tenant hadn't been registered there on the electoral roll

0:31:270:31:30

since 2010, so that was five years.

0:31:300:31:33

She'd only had one bank account listed at the property,

0:31:330:31:36

and that had also ceased any activities from 2012.

0:31:360:31:40

So, for three years,

0:31:400:31:42

there didn't look like there'd been

0:31:420:31:43

any activity from the lawful tenant.

0:31:430:31:45

Avril wasn't going to leave the

0:31:450:31:47

property empty for any longer than necessary.

0:31:470:31:49

She informed the tenant that the flat was going to be taken

0:31:490:31:52

back by the housing association.

0:31:520:31:54

Well, the next steps for me was to serve notices on the property.

0:31:540:31:58

I tried contacting the alleged son by the phone number that he

0:31:580:32:02

had given the housing officer.

0:32:020:32:04

Avril asked him to come into their offices for an interview. He agreed.

0:32:040:32:08

The son said he came and went, but

0:32:080:32:11

now he had moved into the property.

0:32:110:32:14

He couldn't tell me, though, how long his mother had not been there.

0:32:140:32:17

He believed it was a couple of months, and I told him

0:32:170:32:20

it was clear she had not been there for years.

0:32:200:32:22

He was also surprised.

0:32:220:32:24

He didn't know his uncle had been living there either.

0:32:240:32:26

So it was clear to me that he

0:32:260:32:27

hadn't known the full circumstances of his tenancy.

0:32:270:32:31

I advised him that we were serving notices on the property

0:32:310:32:34

and the reason why.

0:32:340:32:36

Avril also wanted to know how long the lawful tenant had been

0:32:360:32:39

away in Ghana and why.

0:32:390:32:41

He did say his mother had not been well, and I asked him

0:32:410:32:45

to bring in some kind of like proof that she'd been taken ill abroad.

0:32:450:32:49

The son couldn't provide any proof, so official notices were

0:32:490:32:53

sent to the flat as well as to the woman's address in Ghana,

0:32:530:32:56

informing her that the flat was

0:32:560:32:57

being reclaimed by the housing association.

0:32:570:33:00

Then Avril heard from the tenant.

0:33:000:33:03

I received a letter from the tenant in Ghana saying that she was

0:33:030:33:07

away and could her son look after her affairs while she was there.

0:33:070:33:11

I did write back to her to advise that we had served notices and

0:33:110:33:16

I enclosed the notices and asked her to seek independent legal advice.

0:33:160:33:20

I told her we couldn't allow her son to remain in the property.

0:33:200:33:24

He had no legal claim to the property.

0:33:240:33:26

Avril asked the tenant to return the flat to the housing association

0:33:260:33:29

herself so there'd be no need to take legal action.

0:33:290:33:32

-But she didn't do it.

-The file was then sent through to our solicitors.

0:33:320:33:37

We applied to court for possession hearing,

0:33:370:33:40

and we had the initial hearing in January of this year, 2016, and the

0:33:400:33:46

judge granted us outright possession forthwith of that property.

0:33:460:33:50

The son would have seen the order for possession.

0:33:500:33:53

I did contact him as well.

0:33:530:33:55

He said he needed a little bit more time to vacate the property.

0:33:550:33:59

I gave him an extra week and a half.

0:33:590:34:01

The keys weren't returned to us.

0:34:010:34:03

The family seem in no hurry to give up the flat

0:34:030:34:06

they're now unlawfully occupying.

0:34:060:34:08

It's particularly frustrating for Avril,

0:34:080:34:10

as the property is on the ground floor so could be being

0:34:100:34:13

used by someone from the housing list

0:34:130:34:15

who has difficulty getting around.

0:34:150:34:17

Avril has since visited the flat a number of times to try

0:34:170:34:20

and get the keys back.

0:34:200:34:22

This property is a one-bedroom flat.

0:34:220:34:24

Currently in our borough, we have over 8,500 households

0:34:240:34:28

on the waiting list requiring a one-bedroom house.

0:34:280:34:31

The court gave us possession of this property a few weeks ago,

0:34:330:34:37

so I have had to instruct our solicitors to

0:34:370:34:39

request a bailiff's warrant from the court, which is going to

0:34:390:34:43

be more time-consuming and more costly.

0:34:430:34:45

So we're just going to have to wait and see now

0:34:450:34:48

whether he hands the keys back as promised or

0:34:480:34:51

whether the court date comes through and we have to wait for the

0:34:510:34:53

bailiff's warrant, which is something

0:34:530:34:55

I was trying to avoid if I could.

0:34:550:34:57

The bailiff's warrant could take six to eight weeks to be

0:34:570:34:59

processed by the court.

0:34:590:35:01

But within three months,

0:35:010:35:02

this flat should be ready to house

0:35:020:35:04

one more tenant from the waiting list.

0:35:040:35:06

If they've found somewhere else they live

0:35:090:35:11

and they can afford to pay rent, then they should vacate

0:35:110:35:13

their own house and give it to somebody

0:35:130:35:15

who hasn't got anywhere to live.

0:35:150:35:17

If it's a house that, you know, you're getting from the state,

0:35:170:35:21

and you have enough money to move abroad, it's just not fair.

0:35:210:35:25

There's an amount of people who are living here right now that need

0:35:250:35:28

the help like now.

0:35:280:35:29

It's so important that people get housing that's safe and healthy

0:35:290:35:32

when they need it rather than just like waiting...

0:35:320:35:35

Earlier, housing investigators visited a family flat that

0:35:380:35:42

seemed to have been abandoned by a mum and her eight-year-old child.

0:35:420:35:46

Lee Mariconda has done all he can to track down the tenant.

0:35:460:35:49

The county council confirmed that the child had been attending

0:35:490:35:52

a school in the county up until a year ago,

0:35:520:35:55

but no longer attends any schools in the area.

0:35:550:35:58

It just adds more weight to our suspicions that the

0:35:580:36:01

property's abandoned.

0:36:010:36:04

After his last visit, Lee went to court to get permission to

0:36:040:36:07

evict the tenant and repossess the property.

0:36:070:36:09

Today's the day the bailiff's go in to take back the abandoned flat.

0:36:090:36:14

A locksmith will be on hand because housing associations

0:36:140:36:17

and councils don't hold keys for their properties.

0:36:170:36:20

It's frustrating for us because it's a property that we

0:36:210:36:24

know is sitting there empty, and it has been sitting there

0:36:240:36:27

empty for a while and that we should never have got to this stage.

0:36:270:36:29

But this is the last resort. This is the only way that

0:36:290:36:32

we're going to be getting the property back.

0:36:320:36:34

And here we are.

0:36:340:36:35

I've come here to meet my colleague Lauren, who is from the rent team,

0:36:350:36:38

and a locksmith.

0:36:380:36:39

We're actually going to be carrying out the eviction,

0:36:390:36:41

and we're sort of going to be meeting the bailiffs here as well.

0:36:410:36:44

-Hi, Lee. How are you?

-Yeah, good, thank you.

-Good.

-Bailiff's here yet?

0:36:440:36:47

No, I've spoken to the bailiff. He is on his way.

0:36:470:36:50

-But the locksmith is here.

-Shall we go and talk to him?

-Yes, let's go.

0:36:500:36:53

-Have you had any contact from her at all?

-Nothing at all.

0:36:530:36:56

-Me neither.

-No.

-Hiya, it's Lee. How are you?

-Fine, thanks.

0:36:560:36:59

-What about yourself?

-Not bad.

-Hi, I'm Lauren.

0:36:590:37:01

We've met before, haven't we? Yeah.

0:37:010:37:03

The bailiff has arrived.

0:37:030:37:04

It's his job to hand the property back to the landlord,

0:37:040:37:07

and he's usually employed by the county court.

0:37:070:37:09

He will escort anyone inside off the premises,

0:37:090:37:12

but he can't use force.

0:37:120:37:14

It's up to the housing officers to fill him in on the background.

0:37:140:37:18

The more he knows,

0:37:180:37:19

the better, as he'll be the first one through the door of the flat.

0:37:190:37:22

-Is it the upstairs flat?

-It's the flat, this one here.

0:37:230:37:28

That's the top flat in the corner.

0:37:280:37:30

-Has anybody knocked?

-We believe the property's empty.

0:37:300:37:33

Basically, we've had no contact from her for several months now.

0:37:330:37:36

-So the neighbours haven't said anything?

-Have the neighbours...?

0:37:360:37:39

The neighbours have not seen her.

0:37:390:37:40

I put sellotape over the lock in October.

0:37:400:37:42

The sellotape's still on the lock.

0:37:420:37:44

And also we've done some background checks as well with agencies,

0:37:440:37:47

and they've all confirmed that she's not here.

0:37:470:37:49

The tenant was notified of a date and time for the eviction.

0:37:490:37:52

That time has arrived.

0:37:520:37:54

It's one o'clock now, so the eviction can go ahead.

0:37:540:37:58

HE KNOCKS

0:37:580:38:00

-Right. Might as well go in then.

-OK.

0:38:040:38:06

The locksmith is getting to work.

0:38:080:38:10

Once everyone's in, he'll change the locks.

0:38:100:38:13

It's been a long journey to get to this point

0:38:130:38:15

and there's some tension in the air.

0:38:150:38:18

Everyone's keen to see what's on the other side of the door.

0:38:180:38:21

There can be various complications

0:38:240:38:26

because somebody could have barricaded the door inside.

0:38:260:38:29

Eventually we always get in.

0:38:290:38:31

My role is to just turn up and be the first into the property,

0:38:310:38:35

and then to make sure that there's nobody left in the property.

0:38:350:38:39

And if there is somebody there,

0:38:390:38:40

I give them the opportunity to collect the essential things

0:38:400:38:43

they're going to need and I escort them off the property.

0:38:430:38:46

We have got no idea what's behind the other side of the door.

0:38:460:38:50

It could be anything.

0:38:500:38:52

-And we're in.

-Anybody in?

0:38:530:38:55

Do you want to come in?

0:39:000:39:01

The housing officers were expecting an empty flat,

0:39:010:39:04

but they're shocked to see it's still full of belongings.

0:39:040:39:08

-I must admit, I didn't expect this.

-No.

-You don't know what... yeah.

0:39:080:39:11

I was expecting nothing to be in here, to be perfectly honest.

0:39:130:39:16

Generally, when a property is abandoned,

0:39:170:39:19

they would normally just leave.

0:39:190:39:20

They'll take their personal belongings and stuff like that.

0:39:200:39:23

That's generally what happens. But this, this is not what I expected.

0:39:230:39:26

This is just like they've just gone out

0:39:260:39:28

for the day or something, you know?

0:39:280:39:29

I'm speechless actually. Absolutely speechless.

0:39:290:39:31

It's as if the family have walked out of their life,

0:39:310:39:34

leaving absolutely everything behind.

0:39:340:39:36

It's just like they've just popped out for the day, you know,

0:39:360:39:39

and they're just going to come home of an evening,

0:39:390:39:41

because literally there is everything here.

0:39:410:39:43

You know, there's belongings, there's furniture,

0:39:430:39:45

there's clothing, there's paperwork.

0:39:450:39:47

There's all kids' stuff here as well.

0:39:470:39:49

It's very rare that you'd go somewhere and not take anything.

0:39:490:39:51

And there's an extra bed in there, which suggests that there's been

0:39:510:39:54

-more people living in the property than we were aware of.

-Yeah.

0:39:540:39:58

This is unusual because it does look as

0:39:580:40:01

if they've left with the intention of coming back,

0:40:010:40:04

and clearly they haven't.

0:40:040:40:07

Looking around the flat, it's obvious this family left in a hurry.

0:40:070:40:11

In the bedroom, Lee and Lauren find letters that give them

0:40:110:40:14

more clues about when the mum and her child disappeared.

0:40:140:40:18

-The letters that are out are dated 2014.

-The stuff that we can see,

0:40:180:40:22

I mean, stuff going back to early 2014, so it would indicate

0:40:220:40:25

that was roughly around the time that the person was last here.

0:40:250:40:28

Yes, there is something here from September 2014.

0:40:280:40:30

I've only been trying to get hold of them

0:40:300:40:32

since about August time.

0:40:320:40:34

It's very bizarre that there's letters here from 2014.

0:40:340:40:37

It kind of suggests that the property has been abandoned

0:40:370:40:40

a lot earlier than what we thought.

0:40:400:40:41

Yeah, shock.

0:40:410:40:43

-I have to be honest.

-The rent was covered by housing benefit

0:40:430:40:46

through the local council, and it was that that stopped,

0:40:460:40:49

and then the rent arrears started building.

0:40:490:40:51

We had no contact from the tenant, which obviously made us

0:40:510:40:54

take further action and start investigating it further.

0:40:540:40:57

Lee's getting worried.

0:40:570:40:58

He's beginning to think there might

0:40:580:41:00

be more to this story than meets the eye.

0:41:000:41:02

One concern that we might have now is that we might have to make

0:41:020:41:05

some enquiries with the police, see whether or not there is any

0:41:050:41:07

reason to be concerned. I mean, things like this.

0:41:070:41:09

We've got a box of shells and stuff.

0:41:090:41:12

To us, it might not seem anything, but that's a sentimental thing.

0:41:120:41:15

Why has that not been taken with them?

0:41:150:41:16

Things like kid's glasses, for example.

0:41:160:41:19

Again, you know, the child is going to need their glasses.

0:41:190:41:21

You've got a calendar here from January 2014, so that's the last,

0:41:210:41:25

that's when it was last on there. So, again,

0:41:250:41:27

that could indicate that's when they were last here.

0:41:270:41:30

So we're talking two years now.

0:41:300:41:31

This is really concerning as well.

0:41:310:41:33

There appears to be an outfit ready to go.

0:41:330:41:36

It's clear the housing investigators' work isn't done yet.

0:41:360:41:39

They'll have to make every effort to find out where the family's gone.

0:41:390:41:43

And even though the belongings have been left behind,

0:41:430:41:46

they can't just be destroyed.

0:41:460:41:48

By law, the owners must be given 30 days to collect

0:41:480:41:51

any of their possessions.

0:41:510:41:53

We'll have to make every effort that we can to try and get

0:41:530:41:56

a forwarding address for them.

0:41:560:41:57

The police will only give a certain information,

0:41:570:41:59

so we'd have to obviously ask for information

0:41:590:42:01

under a welfare concern, and we can certainly do that.

0:42:010:42:04

The last enquiries I made that the child had left

0:42:040:42:06

school in the county in 2014,

0:42:060:42:08

so where they've gone after that, it seems to be a bit of a mystery.

0:42:080:42:12

While they try to track down the family,

0:42:120:42:14

an inventory will be made of

0:42:140:42:16

everything that's been left in the flat.

0:42:160:42:18

If no-one makes a claim on the items within a month,

0:42:180:42:20

they'll be destroyed.

0:42:200:42:22

It does hold things up a little bit more.

0:42:220:42:24

Unfortunately, it's protocol and that's what we have to do.

0:42:240:42:27

The locksmith's done his job

0:42:270:42:29

and the housing investigators have done all they can for the moment.

0:42:290:42:33

Lee's leaving with mixed feelings.

0:42:330:42:35

But while he tries to solve the mystery of the family's

0:42:350:42:37

disappearance, at least one more household will soon be able

0:42:370:42:41

to leave temporary housing and get a home of their own.

0:42:410:42:44

It's not what we expected today. I mean, it's a bit of a shock.

0:42:440:42:47

But there is a positive out of that

0:42:470:42:48

in the fact that we've now got a property back

0:42:480:42:50

and we'll be giving it to a family pretty soon.

0:42:500:42:52

I'm intrigued, more than anything, as to what's gone on there,

0:42:520:42:55

because something clearly's not right and I'm going to try

0:42:550:42:58

and find out what's gone on.

0:42:580:42:59

But in the meantime, we're going to obviously do our bit to get

0:42:590:43:02

the property cleared and get it back into possession for somebody else.

0:43:020:43:06

After we filmed, investigators did manage to

0:43:060:43:09

track down the family, who were found safe and sound in Birmingham.

0:43:090:43:13

Within three weeks of the eviction date, the flat's new tenant

0:43:140:43:17

moved in, a man who'd been sleeping rough on the streets for two years.

0:43:170:43:22

It's down to the determination, dedication

0:43:250:43:28

and detective work of housing investigators that

0:43:280:43:31

so many social housing properties are being reclaimed

0:43:310:43:34

and given to families that really need them.

0:43:340:43:36

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