Council Housing: Fraud
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking with local authorities to prevent (a) unlawful occupation of council-owned homes and (b) unlawfully attempting to purchase council-owned homes.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook
Housing fraud has a detrimental impact on those in genuine need of a home and is completely unacceptable.
Local authorities are responsible for managing their own social housing stock and where unlawful occupation of council-owned properties occurs, the government expects local authorities to take active steps to tackle fraud and ensure social housing is used fairly – this may include taking legal action.
When processing applications to purchase council homes through the Right to Buy, local authorities are required to check for unlawful and fraudulent applications. Where evidence of fraud is found, local authorities may pursue legal action.
On 2 July, the government published our response to the consultation on Reforming the Right to Buy, which can be found on gov.uk here. The government is considering what further steps could be taken to more effectively prevent fraud, including in relation to third-party backed applications.
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