With just days to go before the start of the Olympics, private landlords have been warned that their tenants could try to sub-let their properties, and housing minister Grant Shapps has called on councils in London to crack down hard on any of their tenants trying to make a fast buck.
Shapps also revealed that in Hounslow, after the council hired a tenancy fraud officer, it found 41 properties had been sub-let, including one for more than 20 years and another – where the ‘real’ tenant had emigrated to America – for over ten.
His call comes ahead of the second reading of a Government-backed private member’s Bill aimed at making it a criminal offence for social housing tenants to sub-let, forcing profits made from unlawful sub-letting to be paid back to the landlord.
Shapps said: “Sub-letting a much needed social home is not a clever piece of private enterprise in action. Instead it’s a multi-billion pound scam that denies families in need a decent home. That’s why I’m giving my full backing to this Bill.
“Anyone in London hoping to profiteer by sub-letting their council house in the coming weeks needs to know that they could lose their tenancies by unlawfully renting out their home.
“The Olympics are a great opportunity for London to welcome the world. They are not an excuse for wide boys to rip off the taxpayer. We won’t allow cheating outside the Olympic Park any more than it will be allowed within it.”
Meanwhile, Swinton Insurance has warned private landlords that their insurances could be invalidated if tenants sub-let their properties or rooms.
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