Council tenants are illegally renting their homes out on Airbnb (2024)

Council tenants are defrauding the British taxpayer of £244million per year by illegally renting out their properties on Airbnb.

As many as 5,800 social homes are being marketed as short-term lets on online platforms, according to the Tenancy Fraud Forum.

It is a criminal offence to rent out social housing and councils could prosecute tenants for doing so - although it is more likely they will face eviction.

A Barking and Dagenham council audit revealed that one tenant was evicted in July after their council-owned property was found listed on Airbnb.

In the nearby borough of Islington, 43 council properties are illegally listed on AirBnb, according to apilot programme for the National Fraud Initiative.

One sneaky woman pocketed £12,000 by renting out her social housing and put a Right to Buy application on the property. But a council source told The Telegraph that her application was dismissed - even though she paid £10,000 in legal costs.

Developments in Barking and Dagenham are managed by council-owned company B&D Reside. With a mixture of shared-ownership and affordable rent homes to choose from, average rents are 60 per cent of the local market rate.

But the council-owned company advised that renters who sublet their properties would be in breach of their tenancy agreement.

Only those with full ownership of their property are allowed to sublet.

The blog reads: 'If we discover tenants who are illegally subletting their home, we take legal action to regain possession of the property.

'This can be an expensive process, and we always claim the costs of the legal action from the tenant. It's not worth risking losing your home.'

But flats in the Barking and Dagenham development continued to be listed on letting websites for as much as £290 per night with owners potentially earning up to £9,482 per month.

Michael Westbrook, managing director of B&D Reside, told The Telegraph, 'As we are regularly reminding our residents in affordable properties, including shared ownership homes, sub-letting via one of the online letting platforms such as Airbnb and Booking.com is a breach of their tenancy.

'As a housing provider, we have a duty to protect the limited affordable housing resources from being exploited, so we always take action against those abusing their tenancy through subletting.

'Sub-letting in this way in not a victimless "side hustle". Residents risk committing fraud and could face criminal proceedings.'

Vice chair of the Tenancy Fraud Forum and housing investigator for Islington Council Stephanie Toghill said local authorities were struggling to prosecute offending tenants as booking platforms were refusing to release necessary data.

The campaigner said: 'It's really frustrating, because there are other bodies that do it all the time.'

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea teamed up with Airbnb in 2022 tohelp gain access to critical information that could be used to identify fraudsters.

Airbnb does have a data sharing agreement with HM Revenues and Customs, and has been sending the taxman information about transactions between 2017 and 2019 for properties in the UK.

An Airbnb spokesman said: 'Hosting in social housing is often illegal and has no place on Airbnb. We have a clear process for local authorities to alert us to social housing fraud, and we remove these listings from our platform.

'We remind hosts to check and follow local rules for hosting, and we are committed to partnering with local authorities to tackle social housing fraud.'

A Booking.com spokesman said: 'When a property owner chooses to list with us, they must confirm that they have the right to list their property. We have a solid process in place for authorities to report any concerns with regards to listings and will take swift action to de-list properties found to be fraudulent.'

A Ministry for Housing spokesman said: 'Social homes are a vital resource for many residents. Councils monitor social housing, and a tenant who sublets the whole of their property risks committing an offence and potential eviction.

'We are introducing a short term lets registration scheme to help give councils greater oversight and control of housing in their areas.'

In 2019 a council tenant was evicted and handed a £100,000 fine for sub-letting his flat on Airbnb.

Toby Harman, 37, had been advertising his 'cosy studio apartment' with a hot tub in London to holidaymakers on the short-term lettings website since 2013.

Westminster City Council said Mr Harman had promoted the social housing flat under the name Lara – but it discovered mentions of his real name amid hundreds of reviews from people who had stayed at the home in Victoria.