Episode 9 Council House Crackdown


Episode 9

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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

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of council and housing association homes.

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I know so many friends 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 housing investigators

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as they crack down on those rogue tenants...

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County court bailiffs.

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..reclaim properties...

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-Anybody in?

-..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,

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also grew up on a council estate.

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And, for the last six months,

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he's been working alongside dedicated housing investigators

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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...

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The long-standing tenant who turned out to be cheating the system,

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pocketing thousands whilst living on the other side of the world.

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I wouldn't cancel my cards or end all my accounts

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if I was intending to come back in about five months.

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The flat in east London for rent on a holiday lets website,

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at four times its actual cost.

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It was advertised for either £80 a night,

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£500 a week or £1,600 a month.

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Now, the social rent is only £400 a month.

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And how a reclaimed property finally means some space for one family

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who've been crammed into a one-bedroom flat.

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-Hello.

-Hello.

-I'm so happy to have my own bedroom.

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Yes.

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Rising property prices

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mean fewer people are buying and more are renting.

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The rise in demand for property to let

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is pushing up private rental costs.

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With private rentals now so expensive,

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the demand for social housing is huge,

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nowhere more so than here in London.

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Here in the capital,

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the average private rental costs £1,350 per month.

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Pressure on social housing has never been higher,

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and with waiting lists of up to 11 years,

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it's crucial that social housing stock

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is allocated to people who really need it.

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Our first story concerns a woman

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who was not only subletting her housing association property

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but was making a small fortune from it

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while she had relocated to South America.

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This two-bed flat in Hackney, east London,

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should have been home to a social housing tenant

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for the last 20 years.

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But instead of Hackney,

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the tenant had actually gone back to live in her home country,

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Colombia in South America.

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It was only when neighbours spotted another family coming and going

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that suspicions were raised.

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An anonymous tip-off

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that the official tenant's flat was being unlawfully sublet

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was followed up by a visit to the property,

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where housing officers expecting to find the tenant

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were greeted, instead, by a family from Spain.

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Luke's meeting housing officer Emmanuel Akinde,

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who handled the case.

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Was there any evidence

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of your original tenant being there, then, at this point?

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I asked one of the neighbourhood managers to visit

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-and just do a quick knock.

-Uh-huh.

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There was no-one present at that point in time,

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so they left their card asking for a call back.

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-Right.

-What we then got was Miss

-BLEEP

-who rang in from Colombia.

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Wow. How did you know she was calling from Colombia?

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Well, our customer care line operatives now log every single call

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that comes in to Family Mosaic and, on this occasion,

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the country code really showed that the call

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was coming in from Colombia,

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and that's really when things started to pick up for us.

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OK. So it sounds like she's either on a very long holiday...

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-Exactly.

-Lucky her. ..or she's actually not living in the UK.

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Exactly.

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Of course, it was possible the official tenant was just on holiday

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in Colombia and planned to come back.

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But when Emmanuel did more checks,

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he found that the official tenant and her husband

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had started to settle their outstanding loans

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and close down their UK bank accounts,

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which only added to Emmanuel's concern.

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We looked into his credit account and we looked into hers as well.

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It showed that approximately around 2010, 2011,

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they started to settle all their accounts.

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-OK.

-The utilities, so the gas and electricity.

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-Let's have a look.

-The last gas was ended around 2011.

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-Oh, wow.

-Exactly.

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That's really detailed information, isn't it?

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Exactly. Really shows everything.

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You can see the credit card that they had, also settled.

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You can see accounts that they maintained previously.

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-Everything else was emptied.

-Zero balance.

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Yeah, I wouldn't cancel my cards or end all my accounts

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if I was intending to come back in about five months.

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With suspicions raised

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that the official tenant was no longer in the country,

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investigations focused on exactly who was living

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in her allocated flat.

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A door knock had found a Spanish family currently in residence,

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who claimed to have been living there

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and paying rent to the official tenant for two years.

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So investigators began credit checks

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which proved that the subtenants were telling the truth.

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You can see here,

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it lists when individuals move from one property to another.

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-So you've got Mr

-BLEEP.

-Yeah. Previous address.

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Exactly. Previous address in 2012.

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-Uh-huh.

-And when he moved from there in...

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-Or when he notified his bank that he was leaving...

-Oh, wow.

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And when he started, he told them he was moving to our property.

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So that's also recorded.

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Any conversation that you have with your financial institution,

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-so banks, utility companies...

-Yeah.

-All recorded.

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And that showed that he moved...

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what day he moved from his property in Brixton,

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and that's when he moved into ours in Wayland Avenue.

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This is absolutely watertight.

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-It really shows when Mr

-BLEEP

-moved into the property.

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I guess no-one could argue with that.

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-It's paper clear, isn't it?

-No.

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The documents clearly showed that the subtenant

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had started living in the flat in 1995.

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And as Emmanuel dug deeper, he discovered that the subtenant

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had been using the official tenant's rent card

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to pay rent to the housing association.

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Housing association Family Mosaic

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use personalised plastic swipe cards,

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which can be used to pay rent

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at any post office or council payment office.

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While the rent card does contain the name

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of the property's official tenant and the address,

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it doesn't have a photo ID.

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The use of the rent card suggested

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that the subtenants could have been colluding with the official tenant.

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With Emmanuel asking more and more searching questions,

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the subtenants decided to assist him.

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They handed over bank statements

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which showed several payments of rent

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directly to the official tenant in Colombia,

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and other amounts directly to the housing association

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using the official rent card.

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So, this is the subtenant paying your tenant rent.

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Exactly, making regular payments through his bank account...

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-OK.

-..into the Colombian bank account.

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Oh, I see. So, not only are they paying...

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They're paying the rent...

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Yeah. They were using the rent card to make some payments on behalf

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-of the

-BLEEP

-while they were out of the country.

-Right.

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-Then the rest of the payment they were making directly to the

-BLEEP.

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So the subtenants were paying the housing association's rent

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via the rent card and topping up payments directly into

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the bank accounts of the official tenant in South America.

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It was all Emmanuel needed to confront this tenancy cheat.

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Later, we find out how the tenancy cheat and her partner reacted

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once they'd been confronted by the housing association.

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They tried to have the utilities in the property turned off.

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That's outrageous. So, he's got someone living in the property

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and he's trying to turn off the utilities

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so they have no gas, electricity...

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And there's a happy ending

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for one man waiting on Hackney's housing list.

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It's big, it's spacious, nice area.

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Yeah. Lived in Hackney my whole life. I'm pretty happy.

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Local authorities all over the UK are losing money to tenancy cheats.

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It's estimated that housing tenancy fraud,

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including illegally subletting

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and not using a property as a main address,

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costs the public purse £1.8 billion every single year.

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That's five times the annual loss from housing benefit fraud.

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The system nationwide is hugely stretched.

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Yeah, people aren't being provided the service that they need.

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The governments for the last 30 years

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haven't spent any money on building social housing.

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They seem to think it's a bad thing, and it's a good thing.

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Both Labour and Conservative governments.

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It's basically a landlord's market right now,

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and making sure that there's enough housing available

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at affordable prices is what's going to be crucial.

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A shortage of affordable housing in London

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means that many public sector employers

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are struggling to recruit key workers on moderate incomes,

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such as nurses and teachers.

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Several councils and housing associations

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operate key worker schemes, which offer new-build homes to rent

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at 80% or less of the typical market value.

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But these schemes are in high demand and often have long waiting lists,

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making affording somewhere to live in the city

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a desperate struggle for many of those

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working in schools, hospitals and other vital services.

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In this next case, we hear how one unscrupulous council tenant

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sublet her flat to an unknowing NHS employee,

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who then found herself unwittingly caught up

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in a tenancy fraud investigation.

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In 2001, Elizabeth Agboola moved into this one-bedroom flat

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in the historic area of Woolwich, south-east London.

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But it wasn't until 11 years later

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that alarm bells started ringing over the tenancy,

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when the local council did some research on their tenants.

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Nigel Brown, anti-fraud manager at the Royal Borough of Greenwich,

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has been investigating the case.

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In April 2012, the council undertook a proactive exercise

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whereby we searched our tenants' names against credit profiles.

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Basically, what this means

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is that we see and identify whether our tenants

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are still currently actively resident at their council tenancies.

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Miss Agboola's name came up because it appeared that she had no credit

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held at the council tenancy but that she had, since at least 2006,

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a lot of financial links to an address in Dagenham,

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including a mortgage.

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It turned out Elizabeth Agboola, along with her husband,

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had owned the house in Dagenham since 2006

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and had a joint mortgage against the property.

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Both were registered to pay council tax there,

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and all Miss Agboola's financial accounts

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were also linked to the address.

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It didn't look like the official tenant was living at her allocated

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social housing flat in Woolwich which, if true,

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would be a breach of her tenancy agreement at the very least.

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And if Miss Agboola was living in Dagenham, who, if anyone,

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was living in her council flat back in Woolwich?

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It was time to make an unannounced visit.

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We surprised the lady, but when she opened the door,

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she told us she was the tenant there

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but that Miss Agboola was her landlord -

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openly said that she'd been living there for the last eight months.

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When asked how she came about the property, to get it for rent,

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she indicated that she'd gone to a local newsagent,

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seen a card in the window, and had seen it advertised for £550 a month.

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The woman who answered the door was an NHS employee

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and had been completely unaware that the flat was a council property.

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So, being an NHS worker, as this tenant is,

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she thought that would be ideal for London, be ideal to commute,

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and she took up the tenancy and met Miss Agboola at the property,

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paid her a deposit and then took on the tenancy from there from her,

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not knowing at all that the property was actually belonging to us

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and not to Miss Agboola.

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Housing officers quickly realised

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the subtenant was an unwitting participant in a tenancy fraud.

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The lady was very shocked.

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I think she was more concerned about the fact

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she's now got to go on the hunt for another property.

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But she realised that now must happen.

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She knew that, now that it was a council property,

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she would have to give that back and move away.

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It was a very clear case of subletting,

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you know, for quite a long period of time.

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Further checks on Miss Agboola's tenancy

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revealed that she'd run up rent arrears of more than £4,000.

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Not only was she charging the nurse over the odds to rent the house -

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£550 instead of the £358 council rent -

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but she wasn't even keeping up rental payments to the council.

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Another department of Greenwich Council

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were already pursuing Miss Agboola for the rent arrears.

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We found that Miss Agboola hadn't actually paid her own rent

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to the Royal Borough of Greenwich for her council flat,

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and she was now in some serious arrears.

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So the council, aside of what we were doing

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in relation to the subletting issue,

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was already running the court, the county court, for rent arrears.

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The Royal Borough of Greenwich was granted a possession order,

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ended the tenancy and reclaimed the flat.

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Unfortunately, that meant the NHS worker had to move out.

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It wasn't too long after

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that the subletter found herself to be evicted anyway,

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because the rent hadn't been paid by Miss Agboola.

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Luckily, she's now found accommodation.

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Even though they now had the flat back

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and were preparing to allocate it to someone off the waiting list,

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housing officers were determined

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not to let Miss Agboola get away with tenancy fraud.

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We visited the address in Dagenham,

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to see if we could speak with Miss Agboola,

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to discuss her tenancy in the Greenwich area.

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However, several visits were undertaken - there was no response.

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The only way forward now was to interview Miss Agboola in the office

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and put these matters to her,

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and the evidence we had that she'd been subletting.

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We sent a letter to interview Miss Agboola

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and we asked her to come to the office.

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Despite several requests to come in for an interview,

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she failed to attend, so based on the evidence alone,

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we got a summons and the matter went to court.

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She was summoned to appear before Bexley magistrates,

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where she pleaded guilty to charges under the Fraud Act

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of no longer living in the property as her principal home

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and subletting it.

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The magistrate basically said the matter was so serious

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that he would pass it over to the crown court for sentencing,

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and that's where it went.

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Miss Agboola was sentenced to a 12-month suspended prison sentence

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and ordered to carry out 100 hours' work in the community.

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She was also ordered to pay a total of £44,000

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in costs and compensation.

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Miss Agboola was also ordered by the judge to repay the full losses

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of just over 44,000 to the Royal Borough of Greenwich

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within the next 12 months.

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The 12 months has now lapsed, but we are making every effort we can

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to retrieve this money from Miss Agboola in a civil court.

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However, given that she has got a substantial equity

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in her Dagenham property, which she purchased some years ago,

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we are now seeking to recover that money

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and put a charge on her property in Dagenham.

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So, ultimately, that means either she pays us the money voluntarily

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or when the property is sold,

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we would then seek the recovery of our money from her equity.

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While the council's fight for financial compensation

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looks set to continue,

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the good news is that this one-bedroom flat has been recovered

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and has now been allocated to someone off the housing list.

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Well, the best punishment, for me personally,

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I think it would be take them... take the house away from them

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and give it to the actual people that actually need it.

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And, as well, fine them...

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I'm not saying an obscene amount of money,

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but a good amount so that they will know,

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and the next person will know, not to do it.

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Well, I think the penalty should fit the crime and should fit

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what they're capable of paying back in terms of society.

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So, you know, I'd hate to see something

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that was over and above, out of sync,

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or out of step with what they were trying to achieve,

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cos I don't think there's one size fits all.

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I think you'll have people doing it

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for a whole load of different reasons

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and, therefore, your...

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You know, your reaction to that

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should be appropriate to what caused them to do it in the first place.

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For people who have profited from, you know, subletting...

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I'm an accountant - I understand money.

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The only thing that hurts people is money.

0:17:490:17:51

Technically, the only way you can get people is if it costs them.

0:17:510:17:54

No other way.

0:17:540:17:56

Gone are the days when a council house was for life.

0:18:000:18:03

Nowadays, local authorities are scrutinising each and every property

0:18:030:18:08

to make sure they're in the hands of those in need.

0:18:080:18:11

Next, a couple who tried to pass their housing association home

0:18:150:18:19

on to their son, while pretending to still live in the property.

0:18:190:18:22

The tenants moved into this two-bedroomed maisonette

0:18:230:18:27

in Banbury, Oxfordshire, in 2013.

0:18:270:18:30

All was fine until two years later,

0:18:300:18:32

when the tenants contacted the housing association

0:18:320:18:35

to ask if they could move their 31-year-old son into the property

0:18:350:18:38

while they moved away.

0:18:380:18:40

Lee Mariconda is a housing officer at Paradigm Housing Association,

0:18:430:18:47

and the issue was brought to his attention.

0:18:470:18:50

So the initial call came in on 1st October

0:18:500:18:53

from one of the joint tenants, stating that they...

0:18:530:18:56

can we call them back regarding their tenancy?

0:18:560:18:59

They were thinking of moving out of the property,

0:18:590:19:01

but worried about what her 31-year-old son would do.

0:19:010:19:03

And she asked whether or not they could take over the tenancy.

0:19:030:19:06

We were very clear with her that that she couldn't leave the property

0:19:060:19:09

and leave the son there.

0:19:090:19:11

Two weeks later, and it seemed Lee's official tenants had ignored him.

0:19:110:19:16

A neighbour made a complaint about noise coming from the property.

0:19:160:19:19

The neighbour also claimed the official tenants had moved out

0:19:190:19:23

but that their son was still living there, and he'd moved a friend in.

0:19:230:19:28

Lee decided to check up on the property.

0:19:280:19:31

He visited twice but, each time, he found no-one at home.

0:19:310:19:35

On the first two visits, unannounced, there was no answer.

0:19:350:19:39

Lee received another complaint from a neighbour,

0:19:390:19:42

this time saying that a third man

0:19:420:19:44

appeared to have moved into the property,

0:19:440:19:46

the noise levels had increased,

0:19:460:19:48

and motorbikes had appeared in the garden.

0:19:480:19:51

The neighbours had contacted us simply because there was reports

0:19:510:19:54

of antisocial behaviour, and also the fact that they were aware

0:19:540:19:57

that the tenants had moved out and wanted to inform us of that.

0:19:570:20:01

After two failed attempts to find someone at home,

0:20:010:20:04

Lee went to the house again.

0:20:040:20:06

On the third visit, this was sort of our breakthrough

0:20:060:20:08

because, obviously, the allegations we had

0:20:080:20:10

that the son was living there

0:20:100:20:12

was actually the person who answered the door on that occasion.

0:20:120:20:15

We got pictures of him off of a social networking site,

0:20:150:20:18

so I had a picture of what he looked like.

0:20:180:20:21

So, obviously, when we went to the property

0:20:210:20:23

and found that it was actually him, I knew it was him anyway.

0:20:230:20:26

He didn't let me into the property at the time.

0:20:260:20:28

And he said at the time the only reason he answered the door,

0:20:280:20:31

was cos he thought I was actually from a broadband company.

0:20:310:20:34

And when I asked if I could see... speak to one of the tenants,

0:20:340:20:39

he said that the mum was at work.

0:20:390:20:41

Lee needed to know more, so he drafted in

0:20:440:20:46

the local authority's fraud manager, Garym Lambert,

0:20:460:20:49

to track down the whereabouts of the official tenants.

0:20:490:20:53

With social housing contacts throughout the borough,

0:20:530:20:55

Garym put the word out to his network

0:20:550:20:58

and discovered that they were living with their daughter at her house

0:20:580:21:01

in a nearby village.

0:21:010:21:03

It's a condition of their tenancy that they live in the property.

0:21:030:21:07

And it was clear that they had parted with possession.

0:21:070:21:10

But to ensure that we get, you know, a result on this,

0:21:100:21:14

we need to establish where else they may be living.

0:21:140:21:17

Garym paid several visits to the daughter's property,

0:21:170:21:21

where he hoped to find Lee's official tenants.

0:21:210:21:24

On his second early morning call, he found the woman at home.

0:21:240:21:27

She not only answered the door but held her hands up,

0:21:290:21:32

admitting she'd allowed her son

0:21:320:21:34

to live at their housing association home

0:21:340:21:36

while she and her husband had gone to live with their daughter.

0:21:360:21:39

She signed a notice to quit.

0:21:390:21:41

The termination date is now up and we're going to be getting that property back,

0:21:410:21:45

and we're now going to be able to give it to a family that are waiting.

0:21:450:21:48

But though the official tenants

0:21:490:21:51

have cooperated with the housing association,

0:21:510:21:54

it still remains to be seen whether their son

0:21:540:21:56

will be quite so willing to give up his bachelor pad.

0:21:560:21:58

Now Lee and Garym have an appointment at the house

0:22:000:22:02

to try and collect the keys and, hopefully, get the property back.

0:22:020:22:06

You never know what type of situation you're going to get into,

0:22:070:22:10

so you've got to remember that you're collecting a key

0:22:100:22:13

from somebody who, although has given us back the keys voluntarily,

0:22:130:22:17

they have actually been found out that they've been subletting

0:22:170:22:21

so, obviously, they could be quite hostile, they could be quite upset.

0:22:210:22:25

So you've got to be prepared when you get there

0:22:250:22:29

about how they're going to react.

0:22:290:22:31

It could just go as smoothly as possible -

0:22:310:22:33

hand the keys over and that's it.

0:22:330:22:35

But other times, they could have a bit of a...

0:22:350:22:37

They could sort of show their frustration at us.

0:22:370:22:40

So we have to be prepared for that.

0:22:400:22:42

-OK? Shall we go and get some keys?

-Yep. Go for it.

0:22:530:22:56

Lee and Garym have asked the crew to stay back,

0:23:000:23:03

as they're not sure what they'll find at the house.

0:23:030:23:05

Later, we find out the situation that awaited them.

0:23:060:23:09

We were met with quite a hostile situation, wasn't it?

0:23:100:23:13

-Yes. Yeah.

-Not so much from the mum. It was more from the son.

0:23:130:23:17

If it's your own property then you can do what you like.

0:23:200:23:23

But if it's by a housing association or a council, you know, it's...

0:23:230:23:29

Especially if you're getting it on the council, you know,

0:23:290:23:32

you should be living in there yourself,

0:23:320:23:34

and you should only be there if you really need it.

0:23:340:23:36

I do think social housing's important.

0:23:360:23:38

People do need somewhere to live,

0:23:380:23:40

and if they can't afford to buy, where do they go?

0:23:400:23:43

I mean, if you believe in any sort of welfare state,

0:23:430:23:46

social housing must surely be part of it.

0:23:460:23:49

It's not only social housing tenants who can get prosecuted

0:23:530:23:57

for illegally subletting their properties.

0:23:570:24:00

If they're found to be colluding with the subtenant,

0:24:000:24:02

that subtenant could be prosecuted for fraud.

0:24:020:24:05

One woman in Stevenage

0:24:060:24:07

was found guilty of fraud by misrepresentation

0:24:070:24:10

after subletting a one-bedroom council flat from her cousin.

0:24:100:24:14

Earlier, Luke was in Hackney, in east London,

0:24:270:24:29

on the trail of a tenant

0:24:290:24:31

who illegally sublet her flat for two years

0:24:310:24:33

whilst living halfway around the world, in Colombia.

0:24:330:24:36

The evidence proved she was out of the country.

0:24:370:24:41

On this occasion, the country code

0:24:410:24:43

showed that the call was coming in from Colombia,

0:24:430:24:45

and that's really when things started to pick up for us.

0:24:450:24:48

And further evidence showed

0:24:480:24:50

a Spanish family was living at her allocated flat.

0:24:500:24:53

This is absolutely watertight.

0:24:530:24:55

I guess no-one could argue with that. It's paper clear, isn't it?

0:24:550:24:59

Housing officer Emmanuel Akinde

0:24:590:25:01

decided to call time on his tenancy cheat.

0:25:010:25:04

A notice to quit was served on the flat,

0:25:040:25:06

but once his official tenant knew she'd been rumbled,

0:25:060:25:09

her partner took it out on the subtenants.

0:25:090:25:11

Luke's heading over to the property to find out more.

0:25:130:25:16

So tell me what happened when the actual official tenant

0:25:160:25:19

found out that you were investigating.

0:25:190:25:21

Well, they were not happy, as you'd expect.

0:25:210:25:23

They tried to force the subtenant out as soon as possible.

0:25:230:25:27

The relationship broke down absolutely between the two of them,

0:25:270:25:30

-and the

-BLEEP

-tried to have

0:25:300:25:33

the utilities in the property turned off,

0:25:330:25:36

which, obviously, did not go down too well.

0:25:360:25:38

That's outrageous. So he's got someone living in the property

0:25:380:25:41

and he's trying to turn off the utilities so they have no gas, electricity...

0:25:410:25:44

I guess he really wanted them to move out as soon as possible

0:25:440:25:46

so that we would not know exactly what's transpired.

0:25:460:25:49

-That's outrageous behaviour.

-It is terrible.

0:25:490:25:51

Emmanuel's legal case against the tenant was looking rock solid.

0:25:530:25:56

Shortly before the court hearing,

0:25:560:25:58

the official tenant finally agreed to hand back the keys

0:25:580:26:01

and repay the housing association £7,000.

0:26:010:26:05

That money went straight to the association's tenant welfare fund,

0:26:080:26:11

set up to help families in hardship.

0:26:110:26:13

But that's not the only good news, as the flat has been reallocated.

0:26:150:26:19

Soon, Joe Paraskeva will be able to come off Hackney's waiting list

0:26:190:26:24

and move into a new home.

0:26:240:26:25

So how long have you been on the housing list, waiting for a home?

0:26:260:26:29

-About a year and a half.

-OK.

0:26:290:26:32

So you must be really happy to have your own place, your own keys,

0:26:320:26:35

your own front door and your own privacy.

0:26:350:26:37

Yeah. It's big, it's spacious, nice area.

0:26:370:26:41

Yeah. Lived in Hackney my whole life.

0:26:410:26:43

I'm pretty happy, yeah.

0:26:430:26:45

This flat was actually being illegally sublet

0:26:450:26:48

for a really long time,

0:26:480:26:49

and then the housing association did an investigation,

0:26:490:26:53

so they worked hard and did everything to get the property back,

0:26:530:26:57

which means you get a home.

0:26:570:26:59

If the people hadn't been found out,

0:26:590:27:00

illegally subletting, you wouldn't have got this flat.

0:27:000:27:03

Yeah, I'd still be on the waiting list, looking for a place to live.

0:27:030:27:06

Yeah, this is a really nice place. Lucky it came up.

0:27:060:27:09

-Yeah.

-Wish you all the best with it.

-Yeah, Cheers, man. Thanks.

0:27:090:27:13

-Nice to meet you.

-Thank you very much. Yeah. You, too.

0:27:130:27:15

It's been really great to meet Joe, today -

0:27:150:27:17

a young man who genuinely needs social housing.

0:27:170:27:20

He can now put roots down here and start a new life,

0:27:200:27:23

all thanks to the determination and hard work of housing officers.

0:27:230:27:27

Social housing, I think, needs to be kept for people now.

0:27:330:27:36

If you go abroad, you have to come back and find your accommodation again.

0:27:360:27:40

I don't even understand how it's possible to move abroad

0:27:400:27:42

and still keep hold of a council property.

0:27:420:27:45

You're not living there any more, it's not your residence.

0:27:450:27:48

Someone else should be living in it.

0:27:480:27:49

In terms of going abroad, I think that's completely wrong

0:27:490:27:53

because, again, it boils down

0:27:530:27:54

to denying someone else the opportunity.

0:27:540:27:57

You could have... You know, you could have an empty property.

0:27:570:28:00

You could have someone living on the street.

0:28:000:28:02

Is that fair? No, not really.

0:28:020:28:04

The lengths that some people will go to

0:28:080:28:11

to obtain social housing is astonishing.

0:28:110:28:14

In Cornwall, a 50-year-old man

0:28:140:28:16

applied for a council house as a homeless person,

0:28:160:28:19

despite owning a property in Leicestershire.

0:28:190:28:22

As his story unravelled,

0:28:220:28:23

it was also revealed he rented out the house he owned.

0:28:230:28:28

He was sentenced to a three-year conditional discharge

0:28:280:28:31

and ordered to pay back costs of £1,200 to the council.

0:28:310:28:35

Earlier, in Banbury, in Oxfordshire,

0:28:390:28:42

housing officer Lee Mariconda and fraud manager Garym Lambert

0:28:420:28:46

were about to take back the keys

0:28:460:28:47

to one of their properties that had been misused.

0:28:470:28:50

The tenant had tried to pass on her social housing flat to her son,

0:28:500:28:54

who had moved in some friends.

0:28:540:28:55

-OK? Shall we go and get some keys?

-Yep. Go for it.

0:28:570:29:01

As they didn't know what they would face in the house,

0:29:040:29:06

the crew was asked to stand back while Lee and Garym went inside.

0:29:060:29:10

It was quite tense.

0:29:140:29:15

As soon as we even stepped foot on the pathway,

0:29:150:29:18

we were met with quite a hostile situation, wasn't it?

0:29:180:29:21

-Yes. Yeah.

-Not so much from the mum. It was more from the son.

0:29:210:29:26

Screaming, shouting, swearing...

0:29:260:29:29

Sort of aggressive. Not in your face or anything but, you know,

0:29:290:29:32

I think there was one comment he said was like, "Don't worry, Mum.

0:29:320:29:35

"You don't have to stand in front of me. I'm not going to hit him."

0:29:350:29:37

So... I mean, as a housing officer,

0:29:370:29:40

you're quite used to that type of behaviour but, obviously,

0:29:400:29:42

you don't ever want to be in the situation, do you?

0:29:420:29:45

-No, definitely not.

-Yeah.

0:29:450:29:46

Lee and Garym have given the tenants an hour to vacate the property.

0:29:460:29:50

Unfortunately, there are instances where people are...

0:29:500:29:53

you know, where we've sought possession of the property

0:29:530:29:57

and they've vented their feelings out on the property.

0:29:570:30:01

I've had instances where the floor's been ripped up, holes put in walls,

0:30:010:30:07

light sockets and plugs have been vandalised

0:30:070:30:11

and, generally, they've vented their feelings on the property

0:30:110:30:16

and it's taken weeks for remedial action to be taken

0:30:160:30:20

to actually make it habitable for somebody else.

0:30:200:30:24

We're hoping this isn't the case, but that is the worst-case scenario.

0:30:240:30:29

Now they're going back into the house to take full possession.

0:30:290:30:32

OK, well, they've left some stuff behind.

0:30:320:30:34

So this, again, could be some of the problems

0:30:340:30:36

that you're going to experience when, obviously, a property's left.

0:30:360:30:39

They'll leave stuff behind which, obviously,

0:30:390:30:41

we're going to have to clear, and they'll be recharged for that.

0:30:410:30:44

So...

0:30:440:30:46

OK, kitchen's not in a bad condition.

0:30:470:30:49

It'll probably just need a few adjustments,

0:30:490:30:52

and overhauls to doors and stuff.

0:30:520:30:55

They'll do the regular electric checks anyway,

0:30:550:30:58

just to make sure everything's safe.

0:30:580:30:59

-So...

-Small bedroom.

-Small bedroom, yeah.

0:31:030:31:06

-And...

-Not my choice of colours, but hey-ho.

0:31:060:31:08

-Each to their own.

-Other than that, it looks fine.

0:31:080:31:11

Yeah, it's a good standard.

0:31:110:31:13

Looking at the size of this bedroom,

0:31:130:31:15

this could probably be used for one adult,

0:31:150:31:18

one teenage child, I suppose, and...

0:31:180:31:21

-Or maybe two small children.

-Yeah, no, it's very pleasing. It's good.

0:31:210:31:25

As Lee said, it looks like there's very limited work

0:31:250:31:29

other than, you know, a bit of tidying up, more or less.

0:31:290:31:32

And, as you say, decoration is down to personal taste.

0:31:320:31:35

So, no matter what you could do,

0:31:350:31:37

the next tenants coming in mightn't like it.

0:31:370:31:39

So, as Lee said, give them the opportunity

0:31:390:31:42

to put their stamp on it, have actual ownership of the flat.

0:31:420:31:46

And, you know, size-wise,

0:31:460:31:48

it looks quite a nice little two-bed property.

0:31:480:31:51

And, you know, reasonably good condition.

0:31:510:31:56

Just ten days later, a new family is already lined up to move in.

0:31:580:32:03

-Hello.

-Hello.

-Nice to see you again.

-Hello.

0:32:040:32:07

-Hi, how are you?

-Yeah, I'm good, thanks.

0:32:070:32:10

This family had been living in a cramped

0:32:100:32:13

one-bedroom flat for over a year.

0:32:130:32:15

The property's ready to be re-let to you. So today's...

0:32:150:32:20

We've already done some of the paperwork, so we just need to do the sign-up today.

0:32:200:32:23

And then you get your keys and everything.

0:32:230:32:25

So you need to sign there.

0:32:260:32:29

Normal procedure would be for the flat to be redecorated,

0:32:290:32:32

but the family have asked to move in straightaway.

0:32:320:32:34

So this is going to be your room, is it?

0:32:370:32:40

-I think so.

-It's going to have to be!

0:32:400:32:42

Can you imagine Mum and Dad sleeping in here, and then you've got that big room to yourself?

0:32:420:32:46

And for 11-year-old son Adam, their new home is especially exciting

0:32:460:32:51

as he'll have his own space.

0:32:510:32:53

I'm so happy to have my own bedroom.

0:32:540:32:58

-Yeah? Are you happy?

-Yeah.

-Yeah, we are very happy.

0:32:590:33:03

I have family members that are waiting for social housing at the moment,

0:33:070:33:11

and it's been over a year and a half with...

0:33:110:33:14

She's a single mother with two children.

0:33:140:33:17

My parents, when they fell pregnant with me, you know, a long time ago,

0:33:170:33:21

you know, they had to find social housing really quickly,

0:33:210:33:24

and then they moved to their house

0:33:240:33:26

once I was old enough to be able to be moved into there.

0:33:260:33:29

And I think, looking back on my experiences growing up,

0:33:290:33:32

it was, you know, a real fond one.

0:33:320:33:33

I think if we hadn't had that and I found myself in a situation

0:33:330:33:36

where there wasn't available social housing,

0:33:360:33:38

my life could have been completely different.

0:33:380:33:40

I've got a son who's been on the housing list for nine years

0:33:400:33:43

in Hertfordshire,

0:33:430:33:44

and he's nowhere near the top of the list to get a council house.

0:33:440:33:50

Why that is, I do not know.

0:33:500:33:52

He's got a young daughter, a two-bedroom, dampness in the flat,

0:33:520:33:56

and he's still not classed as a priority.

0:33:560:33:58

Me and my family did actually go into council housing.

0:33:580:34:01

It was a time where it helped, where we were needing to be helped.

0:34:010:34:05

Housing fraud can be a money-spinner, until you get caught.

0:34:100:34:15

In Hackney, east London,

0:34:150:34:17

a 73-old-pensioner was found subletting to her daughter

0:34:170:34:21

while she'd moved in with her new husband.

0:34:210:34:24

After a tip-off from a neighbour, the daughter and her family

0:34:240:34:27

were evicted from the three-bedroomed house,

0:34:270:34:29

and the mother was ordered to pay back £30,000.

0:34:290:34:33

The next case involves a woman who was given a social housing flat

0:34:380:34:42

in the East End of London, who then took a job in Florida.

0:34:420:34:45

Nothing wrong with that, of course,

0:34:450:34:47

but instead of giving the keys back, she gave them to a friend.

0:34:470:34:51

This is a story of unlawful subletting,

0:34:520:34:55

with the official tenant overseas

0:34:550:34:57

and a friend masterminding a holiday lets business

0:34:570:35:00

from her housing association apartment,

0:35:000:35:03

and making a 300% profit.

0:35:030:35:06

Poplar, east London.

0:35:100:35:11

The glass towers of London's regenerated Canary Wharf

0:35:110:35:15

are just a mile away to the south.

0:35:150:35:17

A one-bedroom private apartment in Canary Wharf

0:35:170:35:20

can set you back as much as £2,000 a week.

0:35:200:35:23

And even just up the road, in much less fashionable Poplar,

0:35:240:35:28

the equivalent flat can fetch up to £500 a week,

0:35:280:35:31

so social housing is much sought-after.

0:35:310:35:35

Poplar Harca housing association manage 9,000 properties here,

0:35:350:35:39

including this apartment block.

0:35:390:35:40

And in one of the flats here,

0:35:400:35:43

neighbours had noticed an awful lot of comings and goings.

0:35:430:35:46

Avril Drummond, counter fraud investigator from Poplar Harca,

0:35:460:35:50

picks up the story with Luke.

0:35:500:35:52

We were alerted that they had a lot of different people coming and going

0:35:520:35:56

from the property, and staying there for a short term,

0:35:560:35:59

-so we then thought we had to investigate it.

-OK.

0:35:590:36:02

So Avril went to visit the property to see what was going on.

0:36:020:36:05

When we knocked on the door, early morning,

0:36:050:36:08

had a fairly young couple answer the door.

0:36:080:36:12

They were quite surprised to see us there.

0:36:120:36:15

They said they'd answered an advertisement

0:36:150:36:18

on a short let holiday website.

0:36:180:36:21

Unbeknownst to them, it was, obviously...

0:36:210:36:24

Well, it was our property. They were quite open and honest.

0:36:240:36:27

We went into the property. They showed us their identification.

0:36:270:36:30

They showed us the actual advertisement they'd answered,

0:36:300:36:34

and they were very open, they were quite shocked.

0:36:340:36:37

They were quite upset they'd been duped in this way.

0:36:370:36:40

The property had been advertised on a holiday lettings website.

0:36:400:36:44

As it happened, the occupants had a copy of the advert at the flat.

0:36:440:36:48

Luckily, I printed it out before it was actually taken off the site,

0:36:480:36:51

but that is the actual advertisement.

0:36:510:36:53

One-bedroom flat, kitchen, internet...

0:36:530:36:56

TV, central heating...

0:36:560:36:58

Yeah. I mean, it was advertised as a short let.

0:36:580:37:01

So, it was advertised for either £80 a night,

0:37:010:37:05

£500 a week or £1,600 a month.

0:37:050:37:08

Now, the social rent is only £400 a month.

0:37:080:37:10

If it was let on a weekly basis,

0:37:100:37:12

-they'd be making over £1,600 a month profit.

-Yeah.

0:37:120:37:16

-That's shocking, isn't it?

-It is shocking.

0:37:160:37:18

So Avril started investigating.

0:37:180:37:21

The official tenant, a single woman,

0:37:210:37:23

had moved in in 1994, but was nowhere to be seen.

0:37:230:37:27

In fact, the neighbours said they hadn't seen her for two years.

0:37:270:37:31

When Avril looked into the paperwork,

0:37:310:37:33

she discovered another address in north London

0:37:330:37:36

which the tenant was associated with.

0:37:360:37:38

We went to the other property in Stoke Newington.

0:37:380:37:41

The lady there, she was the one who told us

0:37:410:37:43

she believed her friend had moved to America.

0:37:430:37:46

Yes, the official tenant was, in fact,

0:37:460:37:49

living and working in Florida.

0:37:490:37:51

Nothing wrong with that, but when she went away, she'd given the keys

0:37:510:37:54

to her east London flat to a friend.

0:37:540:37:57

So your original tenant decided to go and live in the States?

0:37:570:38:01

-She did. I think she got remarried.

-OK.

0:38:010:38:03

She's moved to America, and she gave her the keys, thinking, well,

0:38:030:38:07

at least it's going to a friend of mine,

0:38:070:38:10

who will look after it and obviously needs the property.

0:38:100:38:12

That, in itself, is a breach of her tenancy, obviously,

0:38:120:38:15

because she should have notified us that she was leaving the property.

0:38:150:38:19

And it was the friend who'd been renting out the flat in east London.

0:38:190:38:22

But did the official tenant, in Florida, know?

0:38:220:38:25

Our tenant, she was very honest.

0:38:250:38:28

She held her hands up immediately

0:38:280:38:30

as soon as I confronted her with what I knew.

0:38:300:38:33

She gave me details of the person who she'd given her property to.

0:38:330:38:39

So I do believe that she didn't know that it had been used,

0:38:390:38:42

or misused, in such a manner.

0:38:420:38:44

-OK.

-However, as the legal tenant,

0:38:440:38:46

she was still legally liable for any offences that had been committed.

0:38:460:38:50

As the legal tenant,

0:38:520:38:53

you're responsible for making sure that you,

0:38:530:38:56

your visitors and lodgers comply with the tenancy agreement.

0:38:560:38:59

Any illegal activities,

0:39:010:39:02

and other offences such as antisocial behaviour,

0:39:020:39:05

represent a breach of tenancy.

0:39:050:39:08

In theory, you could be held legally responsible for any tenancy breach

0:39:080:39:12

that takes place in your home.

0:39:120:39:15

Obviously, they'd both, you know, committed offences,

0:39:150:39:19

but we had to really go through our lawful tenant...

0:39:190:39:23

-Yeah.

-..because she was the one who still held the tenancy, legally.

0:39:230:39:26

She did sound genuinely shocked

0:39:260:39:28

when I told her how the property had been misused,

0:39:280:39:31

and it had been advertised on this website.

0:39:310:39:34

She was really shocked and quite disgusted

0:39:340:39:37

with the way her friend had behaved, and she felt...

0:39:370:39:40

-I think she felt betrayed by her friend.

-OK.

0:39:400:39:42

Avril's priority was to get the place back

0:39:450:39:48

so she could reallocate it to someone in need of housing,

0:39:480:39:51

rather than people renting from holiday let websites.

0:39:510:39:54

She served a notice to quit.

0:39:540:39:56

I sent her... I served the notices on her in America.

0:39:560:40:00

We also served them at the property.

0:40:000:40:03

And she contacted me and asked me

0:40:030:40:06

if she could get all of her belongings out of the property,

0:40:060:40:10

so we allowed a friend of hers to come and collect the keys...

0:40:100:40:15

-OK.

-..get all her belongings out.

0:40:150:40:18

However, then the subtenant contacted me

0:40:180:40:20

and said they were her belongings, and I said, well, really,

0:40:200:40:23

you'll now need to kind of negotiate with the lawful tenant,

0:40:230:40:26

it's got nothing to do with us.

0:40:260:40:28

So the official tenant assured Avril

0:40:280:40:29

she didn't know what had been happening at the flat,

0:40:290:40:32

but her friend, who was masterminding the subletting,

0:40:320:40:35

also claimed she knew nothing.

0:40:350:40:37

She denied any knowledge of it.

0:40:370:40:39

She said she hadn't done anything wrong.

0:40:390:40:42

She denied being part of the fraud.

0:40:420:40:45

She was very upset

0:40:450:40:46

when her belongings were taken out of the property.

0:40:460:40:50

She's got no rights to that property. She wasn't even living in the borough.

0:40:500:40:53

She was handed the keys. However, she's then misused that trust.

0:40:530:40:57

Even though she shouldn't have had it in the first place,

0:40:570:40:59

she misused that totally, and then thought, well,

0:40:590:41:02

I can make a massive profit here, which she did do.

0:41:020:41:04

I haven't heard from her since that time.

0:41:040:41:07

I advised her to seek independent legal advice

0:41:070:41:10

and to, obviously, speak to her friend in America.

0:41:100:41:14

Surely, if she had any sense, she would just disappear,

0:41:140:41:17

because she's been illegally subletting a property

0:41:170:41:19

that's not hers and making a great profit.

0:41:190:41:21

Exactly. She was very lucky she wasn't prosecuted.

0:41:210:41:23

But at the end of the day, we wanted our property back

0:41:230:41:26

and, as I said, I couldn't really liaise with her.

0:41:260:41:28

-She wasn't our lawful tenant.

-Sure.

-So...

0:41:280:41:30

If there's anything to take away from this, Avril's advice

0:41:300:41:33

is to always tell the social housing manager what's going on.

0:41:330:41:37

Saying it to anyone now who is thinking about possibly moving away,

0:41:370:41:41

you know, the circumstances change, that's fine.

0:41:410:41:44

You need to notify your landlord and be honest with them.

0:41:440:41:47

If you're going to be moving away

0:41:470:41:48

and you no longer need that social tenancy,

0:41:480:41:50

you need to let the landlord know so they can then give it to a family

0:41:500:41:54

who's possibly been on a waiting list for ten years,

0:41:540:41:56

rather than just give it to a friend who might misuse it.

0:41:560:41:59

It's a breach of tenancy. It's also illegal now.

0:41:590:42:02

What's the story with the property now?

0:42:020:42:05

The person who's now living there,

0:42:050:42:07

she was on the waiting list for a long time, so she was very grateful,

0:42:070:42:10

and I believe she'll use the property, you know,

0:42:100:42:12

for the purpose which it's intended for, as social housing.

0:42:120:42:15

It's so rewarding to see social housing taken from tenancy cheats

0:42:180:42:23

and given to those who really need it.

0:42:230:42:25

And with more and more housing investigators out on the street,

0:42:250:42:28

the crackdown continues.

0:42:280:42:30

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