Westminster secures £10k court order against tenant who fraudulently sub-let

A former council tenant who fraudulently sub-let her property has been ordered to pay more than £10,000 to Westminster Council to account for the profits she made.

Last year Kelly-Louise Goatley was sentenced to nine months in jail, suspended for two years, and ordered to carry out 140 hours of community service.

The defendant had been housed by Westminster as a priority case in 2000. However, the authority’s investigators later found that she had sub-let the flat on two occasions. Goatley was charging £1,400 a month in rent.

The local authority has now obtained a court order against Goatley requiring her to pay more than £10,000 plus £2,000 in costs. It is the first time Westminster has secured such an order in a case of this kind.

Cllr Jonathan Glanz, Cabinet Member for Housing and Property, said: “Council properties are hard enough to find in Westminster and this woman deprived someone in real need through her selfish actions.

“This sentence and order to repay her profits sends a clear signal that subletting a council property is criminal behaviour. This tenant was both stealing from the taxpayer and stealing a housing opportunity from someone else.”