In partnership with Charlton Triangle Housing Association and funding from Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) the Royal Borough have secured another successful conviction.

Caught sub-letting the property for eight years

The Councils Unauthorised Occupation team assisted Charlton Triangle to identify sublet properties. Initial enquiries found that Mr Edgar Young was no longer living in his Charlton Triangle property, which he had been awarded in 2000.

Further investigation by the Council's Internal Audit and Anti Fraud team found that Mr Young had been living in the Newham and Hackney areas of London with the mother of his two children since at least 2008. The team also discovered that his partner had been receiving over £600 a month in rental income from the subletting of the housing association property at Valiant House.

During an interview Mr Young claimed he had been in a relationship with the lady who had been living with him at the Charlton property. However, investigators made contact with his 'tenant' who had no knowledge of any relationship with Mr Young. He was simply her landlord. Shortly after the interview Mr Young was served with a Notice to Quit the Charlton Triangle property and in February 2016 he returned the keys to the property.

Given a suspended sentence, community work and fines

Mr Young was summonsed to attend Bexley Magistrates Court on 8 May 2017 charged with one offence under the Fraud Act 2006 covering the period from 2008 to 2016 to which Mr Young pleaded guilty. The matter was passed to Woolwich Crown Court for sentencing.

On 30 August 2017 Mr Young appeared before His Honour Judge Kinch QC at Woolwich Crown Court and repeated his guilty plea and was sentenced to 20 months imprisonment suspended for two years. He was also ordered to undertake 160 hours of unpaid work within the community and given a curfew to remain at home from 9pm to 6am each day for four months.

Mr Young was also ordered to pay the Royal Borough of Greenwich £2,000 towards its financial losses for having to provide emergency accommodation to others due to the Charlton Triangle property not being available, and ordered to pay the council’s legal costs of £1,342.

Council working with housing associations to combat fraud

This case is the fourth case (one resulted in a Charge without prosecution) arising from work undertaken by the Royal Borough in partnership with the Charlton Triangle Housing Association and one of many that are now being undertaken with other Registered Social Landlords.

Councillor Maureen O'Mara, Cabinet Member for Customer Services, said: "The demand for social housing is at an all-time high for all social housing providers. This is yet another example of how effectively the Royal Borough can work in partnership with housing associations to provide its skills and expertise to combat subletting. The partnership with Charlton Triangle Homes has led to the capture of a housing fraudster and another property has been returned - I was pleased to hear the property was immediately allocated to a Greenwich resident in genuine need."

'We can and will catch those who are subletting'

Andrew Kimmance, Director Charlton Triangle Homes, said: "Our successful partnership with Royal Greenwich continues to deliver. This is the third high profile prosecution case this year and once again the consequences for the perpetrator are severe - suspended prison sentence, community service, curfew and large fines.

"Every day we hear about the desperate shortage of housing in London. Illegal subletting denies genuine people the opportunity of an affordable home and is simply unacceptable. The success of our partnership to date shows that we can and will catch those who are subletting."