Council tenant fined £100k and evicted for using flat as Air BnB let.

[marty21]

Airbnb host who sub-let council flat to repay £100,000

Seems quite an extreme case - he'd been letting his Council Flat in Victoria via Air BnB since 2013 - and made a tidy sum out of it although it looks like he will have to pay it all back. This is a relatively new issue in Social Housing and you can see why tenants would be tempted by the potential income. Leaseholders are at it too (more difficult to take action against them).

From a Social Housing perspective - we get complaints about flats being used for parties, let to different people every weekend, other uses have been reported (Brothels for one) and it riles the other residents, particularly when it is a leaseholder and it is difficult for a local authority to take action.

Personally - I don't think you should let your flat out if you are in Social Housing - be it via Air BnB or other means - if you don't need to live in the flat - hand it back it back to the Council who can then allocate it to someone who does need it .

 

[SpookyFrank]

Compare this to the fine issued to the last slum landlord you can remember being dragged through the courts. Trick question, slum landlords never end up in court. Fergus Wilson, found to be openly discriminating against potential tennants on racial grounds, was fined (checks notes) nothing. He was however politely asked to stop doing it in future, and a crack team of nobody was assigned to ensure he sticks to this requirement.

Letting out a council flat on AirBnB is a shit thing to do for sure, but it's way down at the bottom end of the scale when it comes to the kind of fuckery that exists in the property market.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

If your going away for a few weeks and let it out then I've no problem with it. If you have a place in a desirable area and are using it as a proper business, then I think it's a lot more dubious.

 

[editor]

I agree that people in social housing shouldn't be allowed to make money from it via AirBnB, but it does seem an almighty-sized fine compared to what cunty landlords get away with.

 

[marty21]

As far as I can make it out - the fine is the profits he made on letting out his flat when he didn't have permission to do so.

 

[Treacle Toes]

People in SH are allowed to sublet for short periods with the permission of their landlords which I think is right and fair.

I also think that renting a room now and then or when on holiday is fine too.

Moving out, renting it full time and profiteering? Hell no.

 

[StoneRoad]

People in SH are allowed to sublet for short periods with the permission of their landlords which I think is right and fair.

I also think that renting a room now and then or when on holiday is fine too.

Moving out, renting it full time and profiteering? Hell no.

Exactly my thoughts !

 

[oryx]

Wouldn't be surprised if the tabloids twisted the reporting of this so people believe it is more common than it is.

That seems to be the modus operandi with a lot of the media and any vaguely negative story about people living in council housing. See also: very expensive private sector accommodation in posh areas being used to house homeless people. Which is rare, but you wouldn't think so if you read some papers (Evening Standard, I'm looking at you).

 

[quimcunx]

I can see how tempting it would be to move in with a relative for a set time and give up your home to boost your income/pay off debt. It could really take financial pressure off you for lots of reasons, even help you onto a different track, for the sake of putting up with sharing with someone for a few months (maybe they get a cut too). But if you have a home, you have no intention of the flat being your home in the future then you should give it up same as anyone else would be expected to.

He is unlikely to have all of the money he made left and if fairness matters if (other) landlords aren't being fined or having property removed from their ownership for all the shit they get up to this this fine seems unfair.

As rutita says I think it is fine for council house renters to sublet if they have to move out temporarily for work or travel or caring for a relative etc. the same as homeowners can under those circumstances.

AirBnB can be an issue for neighbours regardless of who they are.

 

[Lurdan]

The Telegraph story is cribbed from a paywalled one in The Times which includes a screenshot of 'Lara's' advert for the flat in question

I'm guessing the story is based on information supplied by Westminster Council to advertise how diligent it is.

Spoiler: Text of the Times story

Council tenant fined £100,000 and evicted for renting flat on Airbnb

John Simpson, Crime Correspondent

July 29 2019, 12:01am, The Times

A council tenant has been ordered to pay a record £100,000 for sub-letting his central London flat through Airbnb as councils in the capital struggle to cope with the booming market in short-term online lettings.

Toby Harman, 37, had been advertising his “cosy studio apartment in Victoria” since 2013 with amenities including a hot tub and had more than 300 reviews.

In an attempt to stem a rise in the misuse of council housing, as well as unlicensed parties and rentals to sex workers, Westminster council has called for a cross-platform registration scheme for all short-term lettings.

Concerns have been raised repeatedly about online rental companies, such as Airbnb, Booking.com and House Trip being used to set up “pop-up brothels”, as well as luxury apartments being rented under the pretence of a family stay only for the owner to return to find their home has been used for an illegal rave.

According to a briefing paper for parliamentarians, British users posted 168,000 active Airbnb listings between July 2016 and July 2017. About 55 per cent of these were for an entire property and London had more active listings (64,000) than other regions.

More than 1,500 homes in Westminster are under investigation over short-term letting, the council said, adding that it had formed a housing standards taskforce to target rogue landlords and lettings as well as dealing with the problems of short-term letting.

The council said that Harman had advertised the flat using the name Lara but the council’s anti-fraud service found mentions of his first name among scores of reviews.

He was taken to court and, after a failed appeal, was evicted and ordered to pay £100,974 in unlawful profits.

Under the system proposed by the council, anyone, whether a council tenant or not, listing their home on one of the sites would be obliged to register it with the local authority and obtain a code, without which the site would not be able to list the property.

Other councils have also called for better registration and regulation of rental properties.

There have also been issues with securing evidence from the companies in order to prosecute offenders.

Andrew Smith, Westminster council’s cabinet member for housing services, said: “Social housing is there to provide much-needed homes for our residents, not to generate illicit profits for dishonest tenants.

“It’s illegal for council tenants to sublet their homes and we carry out tenancy checks, as well as monitoring short-term letting websites for any potential illegal sublets.

“Along with a six-figure unlawful profit order by getting a possession order, we can now reallocate the property to someone in genuine need of a home.

“We’re also pressing government to introduce a national registration scheme to make it far easier for us to take action against anyone who breaks the rules on short term letting.

“Last year Westminster successfully recovered 24 social housing properties from fraudsters meaning they can now be allocated to residents in need of a new home.”

People in SH are allowed to sublet for short periods with the permission of their landlords which I think is right and fair.

I also think that renting a room now and then or when on holiday is fine too.

Moving out, renting it full time and profiteering? Hell no.

Indeed. It's worth pointing out that for virtually all social housing tenancies unauthorised sub-letting is now a criminal offence. (This has no bearing on the right of most Council tenants to take in lodgers which is still perfectly fine. Secure and Flexible Council tenants don't need to get prior permission.).

I prefer to take a reasonable and moderate attitude to landlords such as "Eat Death You Fuckers" ⁠but clearly that applies to both parties here.

 

[DexterTCN]

Um...if it's £100k over 6 or 7 years...that's taxable as well.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Um...if it's £100k over 6 or 7 years...that's taxable as well.

That's what I thought. The revenue no doubt will be sniffing around this.

At least as far as is reported, the person sounds like they were taking the piss - so if true I've not got much sympathy with them.

I've had to deal with shitty neighbours renting their flats on that awful site and it makes everyone's life a misery.

Constant. Fucking. Parties.

 

[Orang Utan]

I've heard from locals where I work (in quite a deprived area) that some of these air bnb parties are paid for by posh parents who don't want teens ruining their gaffs, so they just hire an air bnb elsewhere instead. If this is true, then what arseholes they are.

 

[Yossarian]

Fine by me if they want to confiscate some money from somebody using Air BnB to profiteer from social housing, but I would expect AirBnB to pay at least the same amount for allowing it to happen - or, ideally, the cost of building a new unit of social housing.

 

[JuanTwoThree]

Of course it would be possible for a council with social housing in resorts and other tourist destinations to say to its tenants who are themselves away on holiday 'Hey, do you want to make some money? We'll split the takings with you, just get the place really tidy and we'll do the rest'
University accommodation does it. Too freaking sensible?

 

[Lurdan]

Of course it would be possible for a council with social housing in resorts and other tourist destinations to say to its tenants who are themselves away on holiday 'Hey, do you want to make some money? We'll split the takings with you, just get the place really tidy and we'll do the rest'
University accomadation does it. Too freaking sensible?

umm - university accommodation is commonly vacated during holidays so the situation isn't really comparable either from the occupants point of view or of those managing things. Many social housing tenants will have excellent reasons for not advertising to the Council that they will be away, or giving Council staff unsupervised access [edit: or copies of keys], or even sharing income if they're claiming housing benefit. Personally I'm not sure I'd trust the Managing Agents for Tower Hamlets to work the front door handle without fucking something up. Apart from that though...

 

[Wookey]

Of course it would be possible for a council with social housing in resorts and other tourist destinations to say to its tenants who are themselves away on holiday 'Hey, do you want to make some money? We'll split the takings with you, just get the place really tidy and we'll do the rest'
University accomadation does it. Too freaking sensible?

They'd have to take all their "personal" belongings with them, such as their porn caches and adult literature and sex toys; from a personal viewpoint this would involve another large hold-all and an additional plane seat for the gimp, it's just not practicable.

 

[JuanTwoThree]

umm - university accommodation is commonly vacated during holidays so the situation isn't really comparable either from the occupants point of view or of those managing things. Many social housing tenants will have excellent reasons for not advertising to the Council that they will be away, or giving Council staff unsupervised access [edit: or copies of keys], or even sharing income if they're claiming housing benefit. Personally I'm not sure I'd trust the Managing Agents for Tower Hamlets to work the front door handle without fucking something up. Apart from that though...

Weĺl yes, my faith in councils' abilities not fuck up everything is probably misplaced

 

[marty21]

Weĺl yes, my faith in councils' abilities not fuck up everything is probably misplaced

We council employees thank you for your kind words and support.

 

[JuanTwoThree]

We council employees thank you for your kind words and support.

My respect for council workers is boundless, half my family worked for councils. As entities though I'm less convinced.

 

[alex_]

I agree that people in social housing shouldn't be allowed to make money from it via AirBnB, but it does seem an almighty-sized fine compared to what cunty landlords get away with.

How much of his illegal income should he have been allowed to keep ?

 

[Lurdan]

We council employees thank you for your kind words and support.

I wasn't making a statement about all Council staff - I'd like to hope the failings of Tower Hamlets Homes (who recently had their contract extended) were fairly specific. #notalllocalstatefunctionaries

I'm a little surprised at the relaxed attitudes to this Westminster alt-landlord. If the situation is being represented accurately I don't see the slightest excuse for it.

Going away and leaving a 'lodger' in charge, but intending to return, is one thing. Moving out entirely and turning the flat into a commercial rent-to-let is something quite different.

It's not as if there was an oversupply of social housing properties. At the top of Westminster's web page about it's housing list it says this

And he's a fucking landlord. "Eat It You Fucker"

 

[SpookyFrank]

Between 2003 and 2006 around 2,700 council houses in Nottingham were allocated to people who didn't qualify for them; either to council employees, friends or family of same or just anyone who knew someone they could bribe. These properties were often given priority for renovations and repairs over legitimately occupied homes. Many of these houses were sold cheaply to the occupiers via right to buy, some even to people who had never lived in them but who had got themselves listed as tennants anyway.

To the best of my knowledge there have been no convictions of anyone involved. Nearly 3,000 homes denied to those who needed them, in one of the UK's poorest cities. No convictions.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

They'd have to take all their "personal" belongings with them, such as their porn caches and adult literature and sex toys; from a personal viewpoint this would involve another large hold-all and an additional plane seat for the gimp, it's just not practicable.

Couldn't you they list those accoutrements as 'amenities' to entice prospective visitors? As long as they had instructions on giving them a good wash afterwards things would be fine...

 

[Magnus McGinty]

They could have simply bought the property at a knock down price from the Tories and then it would have been perfectly legit.

 

[editor]

How much of his illegal income should he have been allowed to keep ?

That wasn't the point I was making though, was it?

 

[Part 2]

Similar case in Bury 3 years ago.

Benefit cheat made £9k renting out council flat on Airbnb

 

[Dogsauce]

One other issue with this in shared blocks is the security of other tenants. The gf’s last flat was shared ownership and there was a fair bit of illegal Airbnb going on there (as well as some legit where people had bought out the flat). This gave complete strangers access to communal areas, bike sheds etc. which is a potential risk to people and property. Did also have a few parties going on with loads of fag ends dropped off balconies onto other people’s balconies that had decking, kids toys etc on them - although that wasn’t just a problem limited to parties.

Don’t think the HA (Peabody) ever did tenancy sweeps to check who was actually living there. I also don’t think it would be unreasonable to prohibit any renting in blocks built as affordable housing, even for flats that have been bought out, maybe via covenant or something. Next door to us was one up for about two grand a month despite the place only being about four years old, and would have been bragged about as having been ‘affordable housing’ when built and meeting percentage targets. Meaningless calling something affordable if just a few years later it’s completely out of reach, it needs to stay at a liveable cost.

 

[marty21]

Between 2003 and 2006 around 2,700 council houses in Nottingham were allocated to people who didn't qualify for them; either to council employees, friends or family of same or just anyone who knew someone they could bribe. These properties were often given priority for renovations and repairs over legitimately occupied homes. Many of these houses were sold cheaply to the occupiers via right to buy, some even to people who had never lived in them but who had got themselves listed as tennants anyway.

To the best of my knowledge there have been no convictions of anyone involved. Nearly 3,000 homes denied to those who needed them, in one of the UK's poorest cities. No convictions.

That is appalling , and sadly not a surprise , I have come across plenty of fraud in housing over the 2 + decades working in it . There is a lot more oversight now though.

 

[marty21]

They could have simply bought the property at a knock down price from the Tories and then it would have been perfectly legit.

It is a breach of the lease conditions but I haven't heard of any cases where the lease has been forfeited because of this . It is very difficult to get a leasehold property back.