Investigations across London have uncovered widespread illegal subletting of council homes by tenants who were in fact residing abroad, including in countries as distant as Ethiopia. As a result, dozens of fraudulently leased social housing properties have been reclaimed by borough councils in the capital.
Hammersmith and Fulham Council reported that it has repossessed 26 council-owned properties in the past year alone, following the exposure of housing fraud valued at nearly £500,000. In one instance, gas engineers conducting routine safety checks at a council flat in West Kensington alerted authorities after discovering three men occupying a unit officially registered to a single tenant. The council’s fraud team examined utility bills and bank statements which confirmed the tenant had relocated to Ethiopia in 2019. The case was pursued through the courts, resulting in the council regaining possession of the property.
In another case, a three-bedroom social housing unit on Strode Road in SW6—an area where property prices can reach £1.7 million—was found to be unlawfully sublet by a tenant who was actually living in East London. Bank records obtained by the anti-fraud unit revealed the tenant was receiving rental payments from family members residing at the address.
Meanwhile, in Westminster, a council tenant who had moved to France was discovered to have been renting out their social home via Airbnb. Westminster Council officials issued a repossession order on grounds of non-occupation and unauthorised subletting.
In Hackney, council properties with a combined value exceeding half a million pounds were recovered after it was established that the tenants were already homeowners elsewhere.
Chair of London Councils and leader of Camden Council, Georgia Gould, emphasised that every council property acquired through fraud deprives a genuinely needy family of a home. She stated that the work carried out by the Public Sector Fraud Authority and local councils such as Hackney demonstrates increasing effectiveness in combating this type of organised dishonesty.
The scale of the problem is significant. According to the National Fraud Initiative, social housing fraud costs the UK public purse an estimated £900 million annually. With over 1.2 million households on waiting lists for social housing in England alone—and more than 250,000 in London—the pressure on councils to reclaim misused properties has intensified. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has supported councils with enhanced powers under the Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Act 2013, which introduced criminal charges and unlimited fines for those found guilty of tenancy fraud.
