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A2Dominion Housing offers sub-letters amnesty

Friday, 8 July 2011 1:49 PM

A housing association is offering amnesty to tenancy cheats who unlawfully sublet social properties in London.

A2Dominion Housing has given those failing to abide by its rules until the end of July to hand over their property keys. While they will lose the home and will not be permitted to rent from A2Dominion in the future, the housing association has said that it will not take legal action against the fraudsters.

Tenants who have dwelled in illegally sublet homes will be offered support and advice but will not be able to remain in the property.

Following the end of the amnesty period, tenants illegally subletting a property will lose their tenancy and, possibly, their right to future social housing, the association said.

A2Dominion, which looks after 12,259 London homes, said fraudulent subletting included renting an entire home to others, the property not being used as a main residence, departure from the property and passing on keys for payment, gaining the property under a false identity or keeping a tenancy after death or vacation of the tenant.

Laurinda Hornblow, A2Dominion’s area director (North) for housing services, said: “We are committed to tackling housing fraud and urge anyone who is unlawfully subletting a property to come forward as soon as possible.

“Housing cheats jump the queue to deprive families in need of a home and they cost local councils, housing associations and residents of local communities a lot of money.

"On average, we deal with ten to 12 incidents of housing fraud per year. We believe this is just the tip of the iceberg and intend to increase the number of housing fraud cases we deal with by running this campaign.”

The amnesty is the first stage in a programme aimed at reducing the amount of illegal subletting in London. Once the amnesty has finished, people will be encouraged to whistle-blow on subletting neighbours.

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