Birmingham City Council has reported saving almost £5 million for taxpayers and recovering 36 homes through a crackdown on tenancy fraud in the last year. The council's tenancy fraud team investigated illegal subletting, false social housing applications, and fraudulent Right to Buy claims.
The team's work also addressed tenants not residing at their registered addresses and attempts to unlawfully take over council tenancies after a resident's death. The recovered council homes have since been re-let to families in need.
In addition to the recovered homes, 210 housing applications were cancelled, and 12 Right to Buy applications were stopped. Coun Baber Baz, the council's member for housing, stated that tenancy fraud deprives people of much-needed homes and will not be tolerated, highlighting that over 35,000 people are on the housing register in Birmingham.
The council noted that the increase in detected cases reflects improved intelligence, a stronger officer presence on estates, better referrals, and closer collaboration between council teams, rather than a rise in the prevalence of tenancy fraud itself.