Tenancy fraud can impact you in various ways and prevent genuine people from accessing much-needed housing services.
Durham County Council's expert fraud team members Charlotte and Aimee, recently joined forces with our housing advisers and customer services team to deliver an informative tenancy fraud awareness refresher session, as part of a decade-long partnership.
The session covered how to detect tenancy fraud, including illegal subletting, false applications, and non-occupancy by tenants, as well as the legal implications and impact on resources and legitimate tenants.
We adopt a zero-tolerance approach to Fraud and we will:
- Always verify the identification and eligibility of any customer before granting a tenancy with us
- Ask for further verification throughout the duration of the tenancy
- Act upon any relevant information of suspected fraud
- Work in partnership with statutory services such as the local authority to prevent and resolve tenancy fraud
- Seek to recover losses, homes and terminate tenancies where fraud has occurred
Between April 2022 and March 2023 we worked with Durham County Council to investigate and resolve 28 reports of tenancy fraud and have investigated a further 17 cases from April to December 2023.
If you suspect someone is committing fraud, please report this here
Pictured left to right: Claire Greathead (Housing Manager), Janice Hall (Strategic Housing Manager), Ian Walker (Housing Manager), Charlotte Robson and Aimee Baugh (Durham County Council Fraud Team)