Harrow LBC’s crackdown on housing tenancy fraud has uncovered 9 cases of illegal subletting this year, helping save the borough £162,000, it has emerged.

Harrow’s anti-fraud team has worked closely with the borough’s housing management team to help trace tenancy fraudsters to Luton, Kent, Sunderland, Leeds at home and abroad to New Zealand, Dubai and Tanzania.

In one case a tenant sublet her house while living in Dubai, in another a couple who inherited a house worth £3.5m illegally sublet a council property for profit and a tenant was found to be living in New Zealand after an internet search uncovered the fact she was working in Auckland.

According to the Audit Commission’s ‘Protecting the public purse’ report this year, council tenancy fraud costs £900m annually – three times as much as housing benefit fraud. Outside of London, more than half of councils failed to recover a single property from unlawful tenants, the Commission reported. Auditors concluded too many councils and housing associations are ‘doing little or nothing’ to detect tenancy fraud.

Harrow Council’s housing manager, Karen O’Connell, said: ‘People who commit housing tenancy fraud have a real "catch me if you can" attitude. They think it is too hard for councils to prove or councils don’t have the time or capability of unearthing their fraud. That is simply not the case,’ continued Ms O’Connell.

'They tell us "see you in court". They know it’s illegal but they’re prepared to fight tooth and nail, hoping we’ll give up. But we never will. We are leading the way in Harrow but the cases we have successfully prosecuted are the tip of the iceberg,’ said Ms O’Connell.

Harrow LBC’s portfolio holder for performance, customer and corporate services, Cllr Graham Henson said: ‘Unlawfully obtaining social housing properties prevents financially vulnerable people from being housed and costs taxpayers hundreds of thousands each year through emergency accommodation costs and benefits.’