Illegal sub-letter must pay back gains

A housing association tenant has been ordered to pay back the £6,000 he scammed by sub-letting his flat to tourists.

Liverpool County Court heard how the Riverside tenant had been renting the flat for two years until arousing the housing officer’s suspicions.

Those suspicions exposed the tenant as subletting the flat to people via a “well-known website” that provides temporary accommodation to tourists, so she referred the case to Riverside’s tenancy fraud team.

And Riverside’s Counter Fraud Specialist took it from there to uncover clear evidence that the tenant was misusing the property by sub-letting it and making a profit from the proceeds.

Riverside contacted the tenant about this and served him with Notice to Quit, which prompted him to hand the keys back to Riverside within a week.

Riverside also took legal action that led to the County Court case and a judge awarding Riverside an Unlawful Profit Order – which means that the former tenant must pay back £6,000 that he had made unlawfully.

Speaking after the case, Michael Anderson, a Regional Services Manager with Riverside confirmed the Unlawful Profit Order was a first for the provider.

“We are really pleased with the result, we tenancy fraud very seriously and will act upon information identifying any of our properties are being misused,” he said.

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