We take proactive steps to detect tenancy fraud.
We visit tenants in their home within the first six weeks of their tenancy starting and carry out a review of the tenancy after nine months, as set out in our H&F Council Housing Tenancy Policy. We carry out a programme of home visits to all properties so that we continue to visit tenants periodically during their tenancy. These visits are an opportunity to ensure the welfare of our tenants and whether they are managing their tenancy. This includes checking that the property is legally occupied.
Instances of tenancy fraud can be reported confidentially on our website here: Fraud
We will investigate any reports of possible fraud. This will involve:
- carrying out unannounced visits to the property
- cross-checking the occupants' details with the details we have on the named tenant
- working closely with relevant teams across the local authority, such as the council tax teams, and with the National Anti-Fraud Network and National Fraud Initiative to gather the evidence required to act against tenancy fraud.
- any information that we share or obtain is subject to data protection legislation and regulation
If we suspect that a resident has abandoned their property, we carry out investigations to determine whether this is the case and consider a property abandoned if we conclude that the resident has no intention to return, in line with our H&F Council housing absent tenants and abandonment policy.
If, on investigating a case of possible tenancy fraud or illegal occupation, we discover the legal tenant is a victim of cuckooing1, or has been exploited or is vulnerable in any way, we will take action to support them in line with our policies on safeguarding, supporting our residents, domestic abuse and antisocial behaviour.