London borough secures repossession of council house after four-year legal battle

A tenant, who was charged with claiming social security benefits that she wasn't entitled to in 2019, has been evicted from her three-bedroom council house after what the council describes as a “four-year legal saga”.

Hillingdon Council said the resident had entered the UK in 1993 on a stolen identity, using someone else's passport. 

Uxbridge County Court had been told the resident had “presented to the council as homeless”, along with her four children, back in 2002.

She was offered temporary accommodation, then placed on the council's waiting list, where she later made a successful bid for a three-bedroom property in Uxbridge, in August 2003, said the council.

In 2018 the council's housing team was made aware the resident was under investigation by the council's counter fraud team for deception and that criminal proceedings were being brought against her and her husband. 

Hillingdon revealed that in 2019, the resident was “charged with, and later admitted, claiming social security benefits that she wasn't entitled to, totalling more than £234,000 and was later sentenced to three and a half years in prison”. 

Following her conviction, the council instructed its legal services team to obtain possession of the property. However, Hillingdon said the tenant “refused to give it back and a legal wrangle ensued which lasted four years”.

The resident was evicted on 19 April 2023, meaning that the three-bedroom property has now been “freed-up for a family in need”.

Cllr Martin Goddard, Hillingdon Council's Cabinet Member for Finance, said: "This is a really quite remarkable story of a resident's two decades of deception and the following four-year legal saga that has fortunately ended with freeing-up a vital home that can go to a family in genuine need from our waiting list. 

"I thank our fraud and legal teams for their unwavering work to get this result, which demonstrates our dogged determination to pursue and take action against those who seek to swindle the council." 

Lottie Winson