Tenancy Fraud– Why Tackle
It?
Social housing is very important to the
quality of life of families and individuals in Rochdale, who cannot
buy their own homes or find suitable affordable accommodation with
private landlords.
Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) only has a
limited number of properties available to let and they are
prioritised according to housing need. Therefore the illegal
occupation of such properties can badly affect the quality of many
lives, and reduce the number of properties and the capacity of
housing providers such as RBH to provide homes for everyone
who wants them.
Our Commitment
All landlords have an important role to play
in tackling tenancy fraud and it is important they let people know
this. RBH is committed to tackling this problem and has set it as a
priority.
RBH knows the importance of tackling tenancy
fraud and its effect on residents and communities. All complaints
of tenancy fraud will therefore be investigated and if found to be
taking place, action will be taken to tackle it.
RBH is committed to preventing and detecting
tenancy fraud it has now adopted a Policy setting out that
commitment, which can be viewed by clicking here.
What is Tenancy Fraud?
Tenancy fraud may take many forms. The most
common are:
- Unlawful subletting to third parties
- Key selling to third parties
- Advertising properties to let e.g. on the internet or shop
windows
- Obtaining properties by deception or by providing false
information e.g. names and national insurance numbers
- Unauthorised assignments of the tenancy to those not entitled
or where permission has not bee obtained
- Wrongly claimed succession on the death of a tenant
- Non-occupation once the tenancy has been signed up
- Multiple occupation i.e. were tenants falsely occupy two
properties
- Over occupation (non disclosed) were a tenant states only
he/she lives there but where others move in sometimes also paying
rent to the tenant.
How Can You Help?
If you suspect that someone is committing any
type of tenancy fraud, please report it immediately. This can be
done by clicking on the link here, or
by emailing tenancy.fraud@rbh.org.uk.
You can also report instances of tenancy fraud to your housing
officer or by writing to Rochdale Boroughwide Housing, Legal
Services and Enforcement Team, The Old Post Office, PO Box 69, The
Esplanade, Rochdale, OL16 1AE. All reports will be treated in the
strictest confidence and can be given anonymously.
