A Bill introduced by Watford MP Richard Harrington comes into force from today bringing in new measures that mean fraudsters renting out their social homes for profit will face the full force of the law.
The Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Act was introduced as a Private Members Bill by Richard Harrington after he learnt about the scale of fraud being carried out in his constituency and across the country.
Until today social tenants unlawfully letting out their social housing property, estimated to be up to 100,000 properties in England. faced little repercussions. With the Act coming into force, cheats now face a fine and a custodial sentence of up to two years.
The practice of unlawful subletting costs the taxpayers as much as £1.8 billion a year, and prevents hardworking individuals and families from accessing the social houses they desperately need.
Today’s new laws seek to redress the balance, and will give social landlords the power to recover the proceeds of subletting.
This comes on top of £19 million Government funding given to councils across the country to combat this fraud.
Measures including setting up specialist investigation teams and advanced data-matching techniques have been known to help individual landlords recover more than 100 homes a year – and uncover even larger cases of benefit fraud.
Richard Harrington said:
“ I am delighted that this Bill and the new measures will come into force. This will make a real difference to the many hardworking people and families waiting for a home, and no longer will those individuals who exploit the system to make money off the taxpayer be able to get away with it.
Social tenancy fraud has been a significant problems in major cities and the South East, including my own constituency of Watford. I have been shocked and appalled that people have been able to get away with defrauding the tax payer for so long and I am pleased that my Bill will go a long way in preventing this and properly dealing with those who continue to break the law.
Housing Minister Kris Hopkins said:
“For years, tenancy cheats have been able to carry on with their fraudulent activity, denying social homes to people in real need while facing little more than a slap on the wrist if they got caught.
“Today’s new powers will ensure social tenants found subletting their home will face the real threat of prison time and a fine, while social landlords will have the ability to recover the profits they make.”
These new powers have come into force after the Government backed a Private Member’s Bill by Conservative MP for Watford Richard Harrington.