Allocation conviction under section 171 of the Housing Act 1996

On 12 February 2018 South Oxfordshire District Council reported on a successful prosecution of a tenant under section 171 of the Housing Act 1996:

171.— False statements and withholding information.

(1) A person commits an offence if, in connection with the exercise by a local housing authority of their functions under this Part—

(a) he knowingly or recklessly makes a statement which is false in a material particular, or

(b) he knowingly withholds information which the authority have reasonably required him to give in connection with the exercise of those functions.

(2) A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.

The tenant had failed to disclose, when applying to go on the Council’s housing register, that she in fact owned a property (which she was letting out).  She had been living in the allocated property for a number of years by the time of the conviction, and the authority had been alerted to the situation by means of an anonymous tip-off.

This was the first conviction for housing fraud by the Council and appears to have relied on the effective follow-on investigative work of not only themselves and the landlord (SOHA Housing), but also Oxford City Council’s Investigation Team.

As well as the £1530 financial orders handed out to the tenant by the Magistrates’ Court in Oxford the tenant apparently, and perhaps unsurprisingly, now faces possession proceedings, presumably under Ground 17 of Schedule 2 to the Housing Act 1988:

Ground 17

The tenant is the person, or one of the persons, to whom the tenancy was granted and the landlord was induced to grant the tenancy by a false statement made knowingly or recklessly by—

(a) the tenant, or

(b) a person acting at the tenant’s instigation.

 

where the real issue will no doubt be not, following the conviction, be whether Ground 5 is satisfied but rather whether it is reasonable in all the circumstances to make a possession order.
The usual authorities of Shrewsbury & Atcham BC v Evans (1997) 30 HLR 123, CA and Lewisham LBC v Akinsola and Adeyemi (2000) 32 HLR 414, CA will no doubt be considered by the court, and though a possession order is by nature of the ground being discretionary no means guaranteed – see for example Southwark LBC v Erekin [2003] EWHC 1765 – it is also worth noting the recent remarks of Mr Justice Turner in Poplar Housing & Regeneration Community Association Ltd v Begum [2017] EWHC 2040 (QB); [2017] HLR 42 (a sub-letting of part/only or principal home/drug activity possession case):
“40…I would stress that it is not compassionate to allow profiteering fraudsters indefinitely to continue to occupy premises and thereby exclude from such accommodation more needy and deserving families.”

Unlawful Profit Orders in action

Absence of material witnesses

In December 2017 the High Court had cause to consider a claim by an insurance company for damages based on the assertion that the Defendant had fraudulently represented to them that his car had been in collision with another vehicle driven by  someone who they insured. Mr Justice Teare handed down judgment in UK Insurance Ltd v Stuart John Gentry [2018] EWHC 37 (QB)  on 18 January 2018 and awarded the Claimant damages of £19,179 in addition to interest and costs.

One of the most interesting aspects of the judgment was a reminder of the court’s approach to “missing” witnesses, and at paragraph 68 the Judge noted:

“Mr. Grant on behalf of the Claimant invited the Court to draw adverse inferences from the failure of Mr. Gentry to give evidence (or to call evidence from Mr. Miller, Mr. Ebbs, and Mr. Toms). The circumstances in which inferences may be drawn have been summarised by the Court of Appeal in Wisnewski v Central Manchester Health Authority [1998] PIQR P324 at p.14 in these terms:
“(1) In certain circumstances a court may be entitled to draw adverse inferences from the absence or silence of a witness who might be expected to have material evidence to give on an issue in an action.
(2) If a court is willing to draw such inferences, they may go to strengthen the evidence adduced on that issue by the other party or to weaken the evidence, if any, adduced by the party who might reasonably have been expected to call the witness.
(3) There must, however, have been some evidence, however weak, adduced by the former on the matter in question before the court is entitled to draw the desired inference: in other words, there must be a case to answer on that issue.
(4) If the reason for the witness’s absence or silence satisfies the court, then no such adverse inference may be drawn. If, on the other hand, there is some credible explanation given, even if it is not wholly satisfactory, the potentially detrimental effect of his/her absence or silence may be reduced or nullified.””

To give one example of how this might operate in a housing context, consider a possession claim where the landlord seeks to show that the tenant did not live at the demised premises as their only or principal home at the expiry of a notice to quit.  They have credit reference evidence linking the tenant to an alternative address which proves to be their partner’s.  The tenant does not call this person to give evidence, or they do not attend trial.

The two-stage approach will then be:

(a) why has the partner not been called or not attended trial?

(b) if there is no good reason, should the court draw an adverse inference such as to diminish the defendant’s evidence or bolster that of the claimant?

Finally, as part of the evidential overview, the importance of the Court of Appeal decisions in Lambeth LBC v Vandra [2005] 1801 (see paragraph 8 concerning the absence of direct evidence) and Islington LBC v Boyle [2012] PTSR 1093 (see paragraphs 55 & 65 with respect to the need for the tenant to rebut an inference in two homes cases) should not be overlooked.

 

Cornerstone Barristers launch blog

On 15 February 2018 Cornerstone Barristers formally launched this social housing fraud blog…we are looking forward to hearing from contributions and ideas from across the sector.

Official Book Launch held

On Monday, 5 February 2018 Cornerstone Barristers hosted the official book launch for “Cornerstone on Social Housing Fraud”. Katrina Robinson MBE, Chair of the Tenancy Fraud Forum, opened the event and spoke of the need for greater understanding of the impact of social housing fraud, and the need to take effective action against it.

She was followed by the author of the book, Andy Lane, who had a lot of people to thank!

The event was well attended by barristers, solicitors, housing officers and Andy’s family.

The book is available from Bloomsbury Professional:

https://www.bloomsburyprofessional.com/uk/cornerstone-on-social-housing-fraud-9781526502032/