Day 3 – International Fraud Awareness Week

As we go into day 3 of the International Fraud Awareness Week I go home to Northampton. On 24 July 2024 West Northamptonshire Council reported that they had successfully prosecuted a man who had unlawfully attempted to secure social housing by failing to disclose that he was the sole tenant of a property in Bletchingdon, Oxfordshire.

He pleaded guilty to making false claims and providing false information to commit fraud under the Fraud Act 2006 and was required to complete 25 days of rehabilitation activities and pay £1,315 in fines and costs by Wellingborough Magistrates’ Court on 17 July 2024.  

I wrote about the civil side of this issue in 2020 – Tenancy by false statement & Second Tenancy – highlighted a fraudulent misrepresentation claim in 2018 and the same year reported on a section 171, Housing Act 1996 prosecution.

#fraudweek

Author: Andrew Lane

I am a public law and housing barrister at Cornerstone Barristers and was called to the Bar in 1999. Before that I worked in the voluntary and statutory sectors in the welfare benefit, debt and housing fields. I was also, for 4 years, a local authority councillor on Oxford City Council, which included a spell as chair of the Housing Committee. I am the author of ‘Cornerstone on Social Housing Fraud’ and am presently writing the 3rd Edition.

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