Camden Council’s King’s Cross offices

A FRAUD team at the Town Hall have helped reclaim 70 council homes from people illegally living in the properties over the past year.

A new report into the work of the Anti-Fraud and Investigations Team (AFIT), shows they looked into 120 cases last year – and it led to 70 people being removed from homes they had no legal right to be occupying.

The report states that some of the properties were sub-let, with keys passed on to new tenants with no rights to the home, and others based on tenants also owning other properties and therefore not eligible for social housing.

A small number of cases related to tenants moving back into a family home after parents had died – unaware that they were not allowed to.

The report also cited two cases of homes being abandoned and left empty.

The AFIT team also revealed nine whistleblowers came forward in the past 12 months to share information about possible cases of fraud.

Of the 120 investigated, 66 revealed fraud had been committed, 28 were without foundation and a further 26 are still under investigation.

They included six cases of false addresses for school admissions and 48 linked to false documents or statements over driving fines.