Council claim back 44 properties after sub-letting crackdown (From Wandsworth Guardian)

Wandsworth reclaim 44 illegally used council homes

3:20pm Thursday 11th October 2012 in News

A crackdown on council tenants sub-letting properties without permission has resulted in 44 flats and houses being reclaimed.

Staff in Wandsworth Council's housing department, working closely with the town hall’s internal audit team, took back the premises after establishing that the occupants were not entitled to be there.

Some of the properties had been sub-let by their tenants to other people in return for cash, while other cases involved tenants allowing friends or relatives to use them without official permission.

In all the cases the homes were being occupied by people who had no right to be benefiting from subsidised social housing.

Councillor Paul Ellis, the local authority's housing spokesman, said: "Council housing is there to support families in genuine need. The keys to these homes can now be handed over to families who genuinely need them.

"People who sublet them to line their own pockets and those who think they are entitled to pass the keys on to friends or relatives in some kind of private arrangement are depriving homeless families of a roof over their heads."

Anyone with information about bogus tenancies should call 020 8871 6556 or email hms@wandsworth.gov.uk.