Islington Council has won back more than a quarter of a million pounds from a resident who fraudulently took on a council tenancy.
When Gouranga Deb was offered a council home in 2011, he did not tell Islington he had bought a three-bedroom house in Haringey.
Mr Deb then let the house for up to £2,000 a month while claiming full housing benefit for the council tenancy – something Islington only discovered when he applied to buy the council home through Right to Buy.
At Snaresbrook Crown Court last week, the London borough council won back £242,705, plus £18,000 in costs, from Mr Deb under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
It is thought to be one of the biggest sums granted to a local authority in a housing fraud case.
He had pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud in 2022 and was given a two-year suspended sentence, and ordered to do 30 rehabilitative activity days and 250 hours of unpaid work.
Islington’s executive member for homes and neighbourhoods, Una O’Halloran, said: ‘Council homes change lives, and we will not tolerate any activity that deprives people in genuine need of a safe, decent and affordable place to call home.’
