Housing crackdown results in illegal sub-letting eviction

Abisha Mushango has been evicted from a property in Halton Moor Avenue, in Halton Moor, Leeds, after investigations revealed he had sub-let the home to his cousins for two years.

The fraud was uncovered when officers from East North East Homes Leeds (ENEHL) – which manages and maintains council homes on behalf of Leeds City Council – visited the property as part of the annual audit of council housing and suspected that the people living there were not the registered tenants.

They confirmed that Mr Mushango had been living in Birmingham with his family while they paid the rent to ENEHL using his card.

The case was heard last month at Leeds County Court where ENEHL applied for possession of the property.

In a closing statement, the judge commented that Mr Mushango had told a housing officer that "he can do what he wants with his council house" adding: "I wish to state that he cannot and I hereby give immediate possession forthwith".

This investigation was part of a drive being led by the council to crack down on unlawful sub-letting across the city.

Speaking afterwards Councillor Peter Gruen, the council's executive board member for housing, said: "I commend ENEHL's strong approach as the council finds this type of behaviour by landlords entirely unacceptable."

Angelena Fixter, chair of the East North East Homes Leeds board, said: "ENEHL takes its role in detecting and preventing fraud very seriously and will not tolerate any abuse of the system.

"We are determined to take action against those who attempt to abuse the housing system and we will prosecute where appropriate.

"There is a chronic shortage of social housing in Leeds and we are committed to ensuring that social housing is allocated to those in genuine need."

Unauthorised subletting of council properties can have a major effect on communities and Leeds City Council and its arms length management organisations have duties as responsible landlords to know who is in their properties to prevent abuse of the housing system and fraud from occurring.