Local Council Sub Let Amnesty

[emmie]

a report in one of our local papers has it that our local council are going to give an amnesty to people who are illegally subletting council properties, as long as they hand the keys back, no prosecutions, no fines, nothing in fact. Some people are making money hand over fist, and have been doing it for years. The borough if full to brim with people looking for a back yard to park their backsides in, so will not quibble at paying a lot to someone who gives them a key. Some of the illegal sub letters have been caught, but not many, it would seem Islington borough council is better at this, 300 prosecutions last year alone. I wonder why no prosecutions, do they think people are going to abide by this directive, because i don't.

[jake-the-peg]

Generally you hold an amnesty before you launch a crackdown.

If people know that there is suddenly attention on something and that they have a chance to walk away before an investigation and prosecution it concentrates the mind and people come forward.

There's not much point in saying 'Come on own up and then we'll forget all about it and move on to something else'

An amnesty followed by a crack down is a good way of getting a greater change than you would by just holding a crack down on its own

[emmie]

they are giving people months to give in keys, by which time they will have either scarpered or moved elsewhere to set up the same system. If the council had some cojones it would be visiting any and every property they hold, to see who has the keys, it is illegal, and has been going on for a long while. Sadly some poor unsuspecting people have been caught out simply by renting the properties not realising they are sublet by a council tenant, illegally, which means not only have they lost money, lots of it in some cases, but the home as well.

[Gromit]

I know someone in that situation. He is a single male and a low priority on the housing list. He has a poorly paid job so cannot afford to pay a private landlord 3 times what he is paying now. His mate, the official tenant, went to live with his girlfriend but didn't want to give up the tenancy in case it didn't work out. So he let his mate live in the flat and pay the rent.

Everyone's happy. Not sure how prosecuting anyone would achieve anything. If there was an amnesty, he would perhaps become the legal tenant with a private agreement with his mate that he could go back if he needed to.

[emmie]

because gromit it is illegal, if a person owns a property, or goes to live with a friend, girlfriend, then they have to inform the council, so they can allocate that property to someone else. Single people do not get priority in the capital, i suspect it is the same in some places across the UK. And what happens when the person who rents the council property decides he doesn't want to live with the girlfriend anymore, so the bloke would have to go.

[annieigma]

Hi EM10,
Know nothing about your question whatsoever, but if you are interested, i know you are from the East end, there are some lads on facebook that have put 100/s of photos of poplar. millwall and isle of dogs on the site. these date back from when cameras were first invented up til now, amazing stuff, hours of entertaining viewing, the old blackwall tunnel, trams etc. link is:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=o.166379190049211&type=1

the link seems to work even if you are not on facebook.

regards,
annie.