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The national crackdown has been introduced to tackle council or housing association tenants who illegally earn thousands of pounds a year by subletting the houses out to other people, preventing them from being occupied by people in genuine need.
People are being encouraged to tip off the authorities, and a reward of £500 will be given to anyone whose information leads to the recovery of one of the first 1,000 unlawfully sublet homes.
The national campaign was launched by Housing Minister John Healey, who also handed over 8,000 leads to investigators. As many as 50,000 council and housing association homes are believed to be fraudulently sublet across the UK.
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Leicester City Council's Cabinet Member for Housing, Councillor Paul Westley said: "It is completely unacceptable for people to sublet council properties fraudulently when we have a waiting list of people genuinely in need of accommodation.
"I would urge anyone with information on tenancy fraud to get in touch so we can investigate and make these homes available to the right people."
Investigators use methods including matching tenancy records against those held by councils, housing associations and other public bodies.
Those occupying unlawfully sublet homes may not know about the fraud, but figures show 80 per cent don’t qualify for local authority or housing association accommodation, and would normally be expected to find a private sector house.
Mr Healey said: "We can't allow cheats to hang on to the tenancies of council houses they don’t need and don’t live in.
"I want people to feel that the system for housing families who need homes is fairer and that’s why I'm launching this national crackdown on tenancy fraud."
(CD/KMcA)
