Social landlord secures £110k unlawful profit order over decade-long tenancy fraud

SNG said the ruling at Central London County Court followed an extensive investigation which revealed that the tenant had unlawfully rented out the property between 2012 and 2022.

It added that the alarm was initially raised when an officer visited the property and noticed that locks had been fitted to the bedrooms.

The occupants told the officer to contact the ‘landlady’ in order to gain access to the rooms.

SNG said: “Further investigations revealed that the official tenant had no links to the property and was instead living at a property provided by another social housing provider. Investigators also found evidence which showed that the official tenant had posted adverts with online lettings platforms, and they had received payments into their bank account from numerous third parties financially linked to the address.”

Charles Culling, SNG’s Head of Specialist Housing, said: “This is a great outcome for SNG and means that we can use the property for its intended purpose, as a family home for those in need of affordable housing.

“We’re committing additional resources into investigating tenancy fraud and offenders can be assured that when we identify subletting, we will pursue court action against them.”

SNG said its Debt Recovery Team would now seek to enforce the order against the former tenant.