Camden reclaims 100 sublet council homes
A London council has reported it has saved nearly £7.5 million by taking possession of a record number of unlawfully sublet homes.
Camden says it has seized 100 council homes in the last year, which had been unlawfully sublet by tenants.
The homes will be allocated to some of the 17,000 people who are on Camden’s social housing waiting list.
The government is pushing for councils and housing associations to adopt a more rigorous approach to tackling the unlawful subletting of social housing.
In November housing minister John Healey launched a subletting crack down. This included the offer of a £500 reward for the first 1,000 people to provide information leading to the recovery of an unlawfully sublet property.
The Audit Commission has estimated that as many as 50,000 social homes could be unlawfully sublet.
James King, executive member for housing services at Camden, said: ‘I hope these cases send out a clear warning to anyone attempting to cheat the housing system in Camden.
‘The actions of these individuals meant valuable properties were being occupied by people who weren’t entitled to them. I urge people to report anyone they suspect is committing housing fraud, so we can make sure our properties are let to people who need them.’
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Readers' comments (44)
kass | 22/03/2010 9:24 am
Well, this proves it can be done, unlike the usual professional suspects commenting that it would be not worth it or unecomical, etc. etc.
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ProMan | 22/03/2010 9:56 am
Sorry Kass but can you clarify please, are you for or against illegal subletting?
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kass | 22/03/2010 10:30 am
"ProMan | Mon, 22 Mar 2010 09:56 GMT
Sorry Kass but can you clarify please, are you for or against illegal subletting?"
Could you clarify for me first if you are for or against housing staff illegally getting the best social properties for themselves or their friends?...
and while we are at it, could you clarify if you for or against illegal abuse of social landlords?
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Michael Patterson | 22/03/2010 10:52 am
Why has it taken so long? This has been a national scandal for as long as I can remember. It is a theft of public social resources for which the offenders should be prosecuted.
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the purple avenger | 22/03/2010 11:30 am
ProMan - you are likely to get a rant from Kass regaring her landlord in response to your question.
Anything like this is worth doing as it has a deterrent effect. Trouble is its hard to quantify how many future cases you stop by making a stand - and then the sums don't stack up in an accountants eyes. If the TSA were to come out and state that theVfM implications connected to this were to be apoplied losely then there may be more interest in doing something. What people like Kass do not understand is that landlords are equally accountable to funders and regulators, not just tenants, and these powerful groups don't always help landlords to the the morally correct thing. I can see a potential situation where a landlord takes time and effort to address these problems and is then criticised by the regulaor for not getting value for money
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Melvin Bone | 22/03/2010 11:43 am
Kass, can you answer any question with out another question?
(Yes or No please).
Good on Camden for this action. Illegal subletting is a blight on social housing.
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bystander | 22/03/2010 11:44 am
where do the 'usual professional suspects commenting that it would be not worth it or unecomical,' say this/ please quote adn name names in whihc they say this .
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kass | 22/03/2010 11:48 am
"the purple avenger | Mon, 22 Mar 2010 11:30 GMT...
...I can see a potential situation where a landlord takes time and effort to address these problems and is then criticised by the regulaor for not getting value for money"
Okay, let me ask you a question of the type that that housing professionals like you ask to tenants like me, "do you support or are your for illegal subletting?"
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Simon Stokes | 22/03/2010 12:02 pm
Spot on Purple Avenger, as always its a catch 22, how would tenants really feel if you told them the reason you couldnt upgrade their properties was because you had spent all the money chasing illegal subletters?
The major problem is and always has been tenants expectations. They want you to improve their homes and environments and catch subletters and benefit cheats, but they dont want the rent to go up!
The new TSA regulations are very much towards value for money and looking at outcomes and what we provide for tenants, so for many, chasing the subletters just wont be a viable or justifiable option.
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kass | 22/03/2010 12:17 pm
"bystander | Mon, 22 Mar 2010 11:44 GMT
where do the 'usual professional suspects commenting that it would be not worth it or unecomical,' say this/ please quote adn name names in whihc they say this ."
Read all related thread and they are all there, Harry Lime, Joe Halewood, Sancho, etc...
And also see Simon Stokes above...
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