The team at HTFI had a busy and productive week recently and successfully investigated properties in Reading, London, and Cambridge. Each case was a different example of the type of unlawful subletting of properties happening in several boroughs, managed by different Housing Associations.
One of the cases was an excellent demonstration of joint working with another G15 social housing provider.
Unlawfully subletting a property:
This case started with the team being asked to trace a tenant who had left the property some years earlier and the occupiers of the property not knowing where he was. During a thorough investigation the tenant was traced, through several address changes, to a property within the borough and it turned out that he had left the property in question in 2009.
When the team visited him, he realised that he had been caught and agreed to surrender the tenancy immediately.
This case was resolved in just 3-days and means that this property is now available to someone who is very much in need.
Shared ownership property:
In the same week, the team visited a shared ownership property, following an anonymous tip, the Housing Officer found that it was being advertised as an AirBnB. The Housing Officer wrote to the shared owner and the advert was quickly removed; however, investigations had also shown that this had not just been on Air BnB and that it had also been subject to a long-term lease.
Considering that the shared owner had left the property two years previously, a visit was made to the new address where the shared owner was last seen. At this point she admitted that she knew she should not sublet and that it breached her lease. She thought that she had got away with it!
What was even more remarkable is that in this case she should have known better as she worked in the property industry.
This property is now up for sale and there is the potential to also claim ‘unjust enrichment’ which means putting a claim in against the money that had been fraudulently received, because of the subletting.
Supporting another G15 social housing provider:
During enquiries on one case, it became apparent that another property, for another social housing providers was being sublet. This information was therefore passed on to the relevant person.
A joint visit was then undertaken early morning and a male was found in the property. He had rented the property through Air BnB. Although he was not prepared to make a statement, we were able to get a copy of his booking which then led us to other adverts and reviews.
In this case earlier enquires showed that the person in question had left the property some years ago to move into another property, with family, and take over the tenancy.
The photograph for the listing confirmed that this address had a new boiler fitted by the housing association. When the work was carried out it was photographed and therefore supported that it was indeed the same flat.
The evidence was sufficiently strong that the other provider issued, by hand, a ‘Notice to Quit’ the following morning.
In time this property will become available to be rented to someone who will respect the process.
Subletting:
And finally, that week we also saw a successful eviction of a tenant that had not been living in the property but had left his adult children living there. Not only was the rent on the property in arrears of more than £7,000, but it also transpired that for several reasons he had managed to evade eviction previously.
On this occasion the property was found to be empty and the bailiffs facilitated possession back to our client.
These are all examples of housing tenancy fraud and the experienced team at HTFI were able to bring those responsible to account, quickly! Working with both Housing Associations and Local Authorities we provide specialist skills from investigation to case preparation and support and advice.
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