Tenancy fraud

The main types of council home tenancy fraud are:

• giving false statements to obtain a tenancy
• giving false statements about personal circumstances
• Illegally occupying or subletting
• giving false statements about Right to Buy
• not telling us about moving out

Giving false statements to obtain a tenancy

For example when someone applies for a council home and:

• tells us they're homeless when they are not 
• joins a housing waiting list 
• transfers or 'assigns' a tenancy to another person 
• takes over or 'succeed' a tenancy if someone dies
• swaps or 'mutually exchanges' a tenancy with someone else
• changes an existing tenancy, for example add or remove a named tenant

Giving false statements about personal circumstances

This is when someone: 

• makes false statements to improve their housing banding
• fails to report a change of circumstances which affect their housing application

Illegally occupying or subletting

This is where the lawful tenant moves out of the property and lets other people live there without our knowledge or permission.

Giving false statements about Right to Buy

This is when someone makes false statements to:

• buy the property under the Right to Buy scheme
• increase the level of discount 
• hide who the true buyer of the property is

Not telling us about moving out

This is when someone:

• no longer lives in a tenancy address but has not surrendered the tenancy
• tells us they're still living at a tenancy address when they are not