Upcoming Events :
Housing Seminar: Partnerships with the Public Sector – Avoiding the pitfalls
Thu 31 May 2012
Minerva House, 5 Montague Close, London, SE1 9BB
Money raised by housing tenancy fraud clampdown 'will fund new homes'
Tue 03 Jan 2012
The money raised by an upcoming clampdown on housing tenancy fraud will be put towards building new homes, the government has confirmed.
Speaking to BBC News, housing minister Grant Shapps said tens of million of pounds could be generated if efforts to curb activities such as the subletting of council houses at market rent are stepped up.
This, he said, could help to fund the creation of properties for people who are "actually in need of that housing".
Mr Shapps has suggested that subletting state-provided accommodation at market rent should be made a criminal offence, as he believes the existing sanctions are too weak.
Indeed, he stated that the toughest punishment people who engage in this activity can currently expect to receive is to have their council house "taken away" from them.
Mr Shapps recently described housing tenancy fraud as a "scandal", but said the UK has "turned a blind eye" to this problem "for too long".
This comes after Experian Public Sector warned that offences such as subletting may be being committed in about 3.1 per cent of state-owned housing.
For further information on any of the points raised in this article please contact Andrew Murray or Keith Jenkins in our Social Housing Team.
