The government is to offer cash rewards of up to £500 to people who report neighbours they suspect are unlawfully subletting their council home.
Ministers have been told that between 50,000 and 200,000 social rented homes in England are occupied by unauthorised tenants, at a time when waiting lists are full and housing projects have stalled.
They are expected to target 8,000 tenancy cheats in a first wave of investigations this week across 145 local authorities after a trawl of council records by the Audit Commission. There is a growing crisis as demand for social housing has soared during the recession. About 1.8m households are on waiting lists in England, while just 60,000 social homes have been built in the past two years.
Unlawful subletting is a serious problem in London, where the shortage of accommodation means unscrupulous social tenants can charge subletters four times the amount they pay in rent to their council or housing association landlord.
One housing association told the Guardian it had reclaimed one of its London properties from a tenant who had made £32,000 over three years from unlawful subletting. During that period he had been living in France in a house he had bought. That association is currently investigating 56 suspected cases of unlawful occupation.
It is estimated that about one in 20 social homes are unlawfully acquired or sublet in London alone. Figures show that one in nine families in London are on a housing waiting list, while almost 13,000 families in the capital are classified as homeless.
John Healey, the housing minister, said last night: "We can't allow cheats to hang on to the tenancies of council houses they don't need and don't live in."
The crackdown will be difficult for subletters, who have no rights or protection if a social home is reclaimed, and who can be evicted in as few as seven days.
Healey will this week publish new guidance urging housing officers to make regular unannounced visits to high-risk properties, such as homes in multistorey blocks in sought-after city centre locations, homes with two or more bedrooms, and where rent is paid in cash.
Landlords will be told to make regular audits of their tenancies, set up hotlines to enable anonymous reporting, and adopt a range of measures including taking photographs of new tenants to keep on an electronic tenancy agreement database.
The guidance, drawn up for ministers by the Chartered Institute of Housing, calls on officers to use "settling-in visits", traditionally undertaken to ensure the new tenant is comfortable, as an opportunity to "detect any suspicious activity."
It will also urge councils and housing associations to reclaim empty "non-occupied" – council and housing association homes, where tenants no longer live at the property but continue to claim housing benefit there. Experts suspect tens of thousands of properties currently lying unused in this way could be freed up.
See also: Nosy neighbours offered £500 rewards by council to spy on residents. >>>>
Ministers have been told that between 50,000 and 200,000 social rented homes in England are occupied by unauthorised tenants, at a time when waiting lists are full and housing projects have stalled.
They are expected to target 8,000 tenancy cheats in a first wave of investigations this week across 145 local authorities after a trawl of council records by the Audit Commission. There is a growing crisis as demand for social housing has soared during the recession. About 1.8m households are on waiting lists in England, while just 60,000 social homes have been built in the past two years.
Unlawful subletting is a serious problem in London, where the shortage of accommodation means unscrupulous social tenants can charge subletters four times the amount they pay in rent to their council or housing association landlord.
One housing association told the Guardian it had reclaimed one of its London properties from a tenant who had made £32,000 over three years from unlawful subletting. During that period he had been living in France in a house he had bought. That association is currently investigating 56 suspected cases of unlawful occupation.
It is estimated that about one in 20 social homes are unlawfully acquired or sublet in London alone. Figures show that one in nine families in London are on a housing waiting list, while almost 13,000 families in the capital are classified as homeless.
John Healey, the housing minister, said last night: "We can't allow cheats to hang on to the tenancies of council houses they don't need and don't live in."
The crackdown will be difficult for subletters, who have no rights or protection if a social home is reclaimed, and who can be evicted in as few as seven days.
Healey will this week publish new guidance urging housing officers to make regular unannounced visits to high-risk properties, such as homes in multistorey blocks in sought-after city centre locations, homes with two or more bedrooms, and where rent is paid in cash.
Landlords will be told to make regular audits of their tenancies, set up hotlines to enable anonymous reporting, and adopt a range of measures including taking photographs of new tenants to keep on an electronic tenancy agreement database.
The guidance, drawn up for ministers by the Chartered Institute of Housing, calls on officers to use "settling-in visits", traditionally undertaken to ensure the new tenant is comfortable, as an opportunity to "detect any suspicious activity."
It will also urge councils and housing associations to reclaim empty "non-occupied" – council and housing association homes, where tenants no longer live at the property but continue to claim housing benefit there. Experts suspect tens of thousands of properties currently lying unused in this way could be freed up.
See also: Nosy neighbours offered £500 rewards by council to spy on residents. >>>>
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