You’re likely to lose your tenancy and you could lose your right to council housing in the future if you’re caught committing housing fraud.

Housing fraud includes:

• not telling the truth when applying for a property - for example claiming to have children when you do not
• sub-letting a property without permission
• living in a property after someone has died without the right to do so
• failing to tell us about a change of circumstance that may effect your tenancy

How to report housing fraud

We don't manage all social (council) housing within the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole area. Depending on who manages the property, you may need to tell us or either a housing association.

How to report social housing fraud

You can contact us of any concerns you have where you suspect fraud has been committed, by completing our fraud report form.

You are able to report fraud anonymously.

However, in most cases it would be helpful if you could leave your contact details, so that we can contact you for further information should we need it.

If we do need to share information that you’ve provided to us, will we contact you for your consent.

How to report housing association fraud

If you have concerns that someone is committing fraud please contact the housing association directly.

How we check for housing fraud

We will check:

• a tenant’s housing record against other records - for example housing benefit or the electoral roll
• that the genuine tenant lives at the property - for example asking to see the tenant’s passport and tenancy agreement

Checks can happen at any time during a tenancy, without any warning.