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Brighton residents handed £500 to tell on neighbours (From The Argus)
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Brighton residents handed £500 to tell on neighbours
12:00pm Wednesday 2nd December 2009
Members of the public will be given hundreds of pounds for helping catch illegal sub-letters in a new crackdown on tenancy fraud.
Housing Minister John Healey has promised £500 to people whose tip-offs helped take back the first 1,000 homes, which would then be released to those in real need.
Brighton and Hove City Council will receive £30,000 from the fund and Lewes District Council will be given £10,000.
The cash will also be used to set up council-run anti-fraud initiatives - including special hotlines and crack squads to investigate allegations of fraud.
It is estimated by the Audit Commission that between 120 and 600 council homes in Brighton and Hove and around 30 homes in Lewes are being rented out illegally to other families.
Council bosses claim pubilc tip-offs are vital to tackling fraudsters, with around half of all recovered homes coming as a result of tip-offs from neighbours.
Councils and housing associations also received around 8,000 leads to potential tenancy cheats in their communities which were found through “data swaps” by the Audit Commission matching tenancy records against records held by councils, housing associations and other public bodies.
They are also being given practical advice on how best to tackle housing fraud.
The Argus revealed this year how tenancy cheat Georgia Parsons pocketed tens of thousands after unlawfully sub-letting her property.
Parsons earned more than £17,000 in housing benefit and council tax benefit over a two-year period from 2006.
She was handed a suspended prison sentence in April after she received around £600 a month from her council house while she lived in Spain.
Mr Healey said: “We can’t allow cheats to hang onto the tenancies of council houses they don’t need to and don’t live in. I want people to feel the system for housing families who need homes is fairer and that’s why I’m launching this national crackdown on tenancy fraud.”
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Your Say YourArgus
Fight Back, Hove says...
12:30pm Wed 2 Dec 09
Tye, Pembroke says...
1:45pm Wed 2 Dec 09
AngryFrank wrote:Surely they should be reporting on thieves, crooks and benefit cheats without a reward?
This country seems to be getting more like Eastern Germany every day! Spy on your neighbours, get paid and help the motherland.
People only doing the right thing because of money? An interesting moral point?
Think about it, London says...
2:02pm Wed 2 Dec 09
AngryFrank wrote:Are you against rewards being offered to capture criminals then? If your car was stolen I assume you'd be happy if any witnesses just passed on by so as not to be accused of spying on the thief?
This country seems to be getting more like Eastern Germany every day! Spy on your neighbours, get paid and help the motherland.
I for one want to live in a country where it is socially unacceptable to steal, and the only way that will happen is by individuals taking a stand for what they believe is wrong and reporting theft. And can there be a lower form of theft than depriving a vulnerable person of a home in order to fund a extended Spanish holiday?
As for your East German comparison, refusing to tolerate people taking and occupying the homes of others sounds more like an English wartime trait than a German one.
Voice of Unreason, B&H says...
3:40pm Wed 2 Dec 09
I have no time for these chancers, who always seem to have new BMWs or 4x4s - and yet supposedly live in social housing.
Given all of this, I would happily shop them if I was sure anyone was 'at it', but I wouldn't need a financial reward to do do it.
She-Ra, Princess Of Power, Brighton says...
4:10pm Wed 2 Dec 09
I do think that people ought to be shopped in though, as above, they're stealing from us all, it's OUR tax paying for their cushy little lives.
There are too many people now who think that the country owes them a living and that it's their god-given right to have everything paid for them and to claim what they're not entitled to, because they can. It's about time it was stopped.
davyboy, abingdon, oxon says...
4:52pm Wed 2 Dec 09
Just another Taxpayer, Hove says...
5:14pm Wed 2 Dec 09
yorkie44, Woodingdean says...
5:14pm Wed 2 Dec 09
cheezburger, brighton says...
8:27pm Wed 2 Dec 09
tpebop..., Belarus says...
7:41am Thu 3 Dec 09
I told her twice to stop or I would report her.
She still cliamed, so I reported her, but the DHSS were so shocked when I gave my name.
And I did not expect payment.
Don't cheet the system!
D Merrett, East Sussex says...
9:41am Thu 3 Dec 09
uncil policy is totally wrong. If someone feels strong enough then let them inform on neighbours if that is what Britain is all about, but I object to having money set-aside to pay out to informers. The only reason they need it is because the authorities fail to do the job properly in the first place.
wasted, brighton says...
12:08pm Thu 3 Dec 09
Think I would be tempted to give it a try
smegbuster, Brighton says...
1:46pm Thu 3 Dec 09
wasted wrote:The point, wasted, (as clearly pointed out in the articel) is that the cheat's tenancy agreement can be terminated and the property can be used for people who really need it. Are you aware of how long the council's housing waiting list is? It's criminal that people can try to profit out of something that's intended for the more needy. It's just a pity that there are so many people prepared to turn a blind eye, and measures such as this are an unfortunate necessity to try to persuade at least some of those "in the know" to come forward.
What is the point in reporting people. When they get taken to court, the sentances are meaningless. For example a report in the Argus last month. A man took over 30k in benefit he was not entitled to. the sentance 12 months suspended for 2 years, a 6 month night time curfew and 2K in costs. didn't even have to pay back the 30k. Think I would be tempted to give it a try
Bubs, Brighton says...
1:47pm Thu 3 Dec 09
BB1975, Hove says...
3:07pm Thu 3 Dec 09
davyboy, abingdon, oxon says...
5:26pm Thu 3 Dec 09
BB1975 wrote:i am sorry to hear of your predicament, and you are right. there are more houses available than the council realise, as these sub-letters are depriving others from good housing. i agree that there should be more checks, done by the council without warning, to confirm who lives where. anyone caught sub-letting should have their tenancy agreement cancelled with immediate effect, and given 7 days to leave. if not, eviction should follow, and they should be banned from the housing list indefinately.
I am someone currently living with a young child in one damp, mouldy room and and have already been waiting nearly two years to be rehoused by the council . I think it is disgusting that these people think it is acceptable to deprive people, especially children, in great need of a safe, habitable home to line their own pockets. The council should make more checks and keep a closer eye on their already vastly depleted housing stock. I am all for neighbours reporting on each other as these 'thieves' deserve no respect or consideration.
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AngryFrank, InTheSticks says...
12:21pm Wed 2 Dec 09