A north London social landlord has forced a tenant to hand back the keys to her council home after she was found to be living elsewhere and to have taken out ten mortgages worth more than £1million.

Fraud officers at Barnet Homes discovered that the tenant was allowing other family members to occupy her three-bed maisonette at the Dollis Valley Estate, EN5. By law, tenants must use their council property as their principal home.

Barnet Homes discovered the fraud after a new credit check facility revealed that the tenant had a number of mortgages, loans and mobile phone contracts at an address in Luton, but that the only credit history at the Dollis Valley address related to other members of her family.

Once presented with the evidence, the tenant agreed to hand back the property to Barnet Homes.

The property is one of 11 council homes that have so far been recovered for use by genuine tenants since the launch of a new fraud campaign by Barnet Homes and Barnet Council’s Corporate Anti Fraud team earlier this year.

That included the introduction of tenancy fraud officers to root out illegal subletting of homes, non-occupation of properties, attempts to abuse the succession rules for passing on a council tenancy, and housing benefit fraud. The fraud officers are currently working on dozens more cases.

Barnet Homes Chief Executive, Tracey Lees, said: “Everyone knows that there is enormous pressure on council housing, in Barnet as elsewhere. We’re pleased that we’ve uncovered so many cases of fraud over the past few months which we are now investigating with the support of the council.

“We will do all we can to stamp out tenancy fraud and will take legal action to regain possession of homes that aren’t being occupied by genuine tenants.

“We’re also grateful for the ongoing support of other tenants for our fraud initiative. It can sometimes be difficult to prove that tenants aren’t living in their council home, and we’re grateful for any information that will help us to catch people who try to abuse the system.”

Councillor Richard Cornelius, Leader of Barnet Council, added: “These cases highlight the importance of council investigators working closely with Barnet Homes to uncover tenancy fraud.

“Barnet Council’s CAFT officers will continue to do a good job in exposing those who exploit the system and making sure social housing remains available to those in genuine need.”

Any resident who suspects housing fraud is taking place at council homes in Barnet should call 020 8359 7254 or email talk2us@barnethomes.org.