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Reporting tenancy fraud

A homeless mother and child in black and white

We take tenancy fraud very seriously and will take immediate action.

Tenancy fraud may include:

  • Illegal or unauthorised sub-letting
  • Identity fraud
  • Unauthorised mutual exchanges
  • Obtaining a property that the household is not entitled to
  • Deliberately withholding information relevant to the housing application
  • People staying in a property after a tenant has passed away,
    without our permission.

 

Reporting Form

Use the form below to report tenancy fraud.

tenancy fraud form

 

We are serious about protecting your privacy and promise to store and look after your personal information carefully and in line with UK law and our privacy notice.

 

Tenancy fraud – frequently asked questions

 

What is tenancy fraud?

Tenancy fraud is when someone misuses a social housing property and this can be in a number of ways.

What are the types of tenancy fraud?

The most common types of tenancy fraud are:

  • When someone breaches their tenancy agreement by:
  • not using the property as their main home
  • leaving the property without telling us, known as abandonment.
  • signing over the property to someone else without our permission, known as an assignment or a mutual exchange
  • wrongly claiming they have the right to live in the property after a tenant has died, known as succession
  • subletting all or part of the property without permission.
  • Trying to get a property by using false or misleading statements, information or documents.
  • Not giving us information which may affect their right to have a property.
  • Key selling, where someone is given a tenancy but they never move in, instead sells the keys to someone else.
  • Joint tenancy fraud, where a sole tenant tells their landlord that their partner has moved in and they want a joint tenancy, but as soon as this is granted they move out, leaving the other person in the property.
What are the implications of tenancy fraud?
  • It means that we have little or no control over managing the property, including being able to deal with antisocial behaviour or repairs issues.
  • We can suffer financial losses as a result of lost rent, repayment of direct benefit payments, legal costs including evictions, staff time involved in investigations, damage to property, etc.
  • It means that any benefit payments for rent that we receive from other agencies might have to be paid back to them, which costs us money.
  • It means that a property is not available for someone in housing need. This can affect councils if they are having to pay to keep people in temporary housing such as hotels.
What are you doing about preventing, detecting and taking action on tenancy fraud?
  • We check official documents for people who apply for housing.
  • We promote an awareness about tenancy fraud to our customers and the public on our website and media campaigns.
  • We encourage people to report suspicious activity to us that could mean a property is being misused.
  • We investigate all reports made to us where tenancy fraud is suspected.
  • We share information with other organisations to try and identify people who have given different information about themselves to us and to them.
  • We have an internal tenancy audit process to identify any suspicious tenancy changes.
  • We take legal action to get the property or the money we have had to return back.

Selwood Housing
Bryer Ash Business Park
Bradford Road
Trowbridge
BA14 8RT