Council House Crackdown

Episode 7 (2x7)

: 31, 2016

Investigators catch up with a woman who applied for and got two social housing properties - and unlawfully sublet them while she was living in a third property. She even managed to buy one of the council properties at a huge discount under the Right to Buy scheme. Michelle tells us how this tenant on the take was rumbled by housing fraud investigators at the Royal Borough of Greenwich, and how her property portfolio came crashing down when she was jailed and forced to pay back £160,000. In a separate case, investigators claim back a property they suspect is being sublet in one of London's busiest tourist hot spots - but they're shocked when they discover the state the property has been left in. Tax payers now face a £20,000 bill for repairs before the property can be allocated to new tenants off the housing waiting list. While most are honest, the amount of money some social housing tenants are making by unlawfully subletting is shocking. In this episode, Michelle tells us how one rogue tenant was using a middleman to act as an 'agent' and was charging subtenants up to three times the amount she was actually paying in rent. When housing officers visit the property, they find five adults living in the lounge and two bedrooms - and not one of them was the official tenant.