Sheffield Council tenant forced to pay £5,000 and struck from housing register for fraud

The case was one of 230 tenancy fraud incidents investigated by the council in the 2021/22 according to its latest fraud audit but it was the only one to be heard in court during that time.

In a report officers said: “It is difficult to fully determine the number of fraudulent tenancy cases as often the tenants hand back their tenancy when they are aware of an investigation taking place.

“This means that lengthy and costly legal action is avoided and the houses are once more available to be used by the citizens of Sheffield who need them.

“The council will always take the appropriate legal action if fraud can be proven, even if the tenancy has been given up.”

The local authority’s housing fraud team is small with only two qualified investigators but in one year they took on more than 200 cases.

Of those, there were 132 active cases at the start of the year – many of which were delayed due to Covid-19 – and an additional 98 cases were started.

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Throughout the year, 139 cases were closed and there were 23 properties returned by tenants who quit after finding out they were under investigation and one other that was abandoned during inquiries.

Now legal restrictions have been lifted, the council is continuing legal action with a further six criminal and five civil prosecutions.