Right to Buy applications and unlawful subletting in spotlight as London borough saves £5m on counter-fraud measures

The tenant had also failed to declare that he had a large amount of savings which might have resulted in his application for housing being refused.

Lambeth said refusal of the tenant’s right to buy application had saved the public purse £127,700.

The case was among those highlighted in a report to Lambeth’s Corporate Committee on the work of its counter-fraud team, which is estimated to have saved £5.4m through prevention and detection in 2024/25.

It was one of eight fraudulent Right to Buy applications identified during the year, with the council preventing approximately £1m in fraud.

The report also detailed 174 cases of tenancy fraud examined between April 2024 and March 2025, including where properties were being illegally sub-let to other tenants.

The investigations resulted in the recovery of 81 council properties, with a value of £3m.

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The total savings from tackling housing fraud were just north of £4m in 2024/25.

Also included in the total savings of £5.4 million is the recovery of 54 blue badges held fraudulently, as well as NRPF savings of £600,000.

Cllr Claire Holland, Leader of Lambeth Council, said: “The council has a duty to ensure that every penny of council taxpayers’ money is spent as responsibly and effectively as possible. But at a time when the council is having to consider more challenging savings due to the demand-crisis facing councils where the costs of providing services are outstripping available funding, it is even more important that we investigate and stamp out every effort to defraud public funds.

“Our Counter Fraud team is working so hard to protect Lambeth and its residents from all those who try to cheat the system for financial gain, and their work tackling housing-related fraud is vital. When we are dealing with a housing crisis, and the huge cost of housing homeless people in temporary accommodation, we must ensure that our council homes only go to the people who need them most.”

Harry Rodd