Around 50,000 London social rent houses are being used for some form of fraud such as being illegally sublet on platforms like Airbnb, new research has found.
The report, by the Tenancy Fraud Forum (TFF), warned that councils and housing associations in the capital are failing to crackdown on social housing fraud.
Around 50,000 social housing properties are being used for some form of tenancy fraud, it found.
The research added that rates of detection for illegal subletting of council and housing association properties had fallen by more 40 per cent in the last decade.
It attributed this in part to central Government cuts meaning there are fewer officials investigating the fraud.
Researchers estimated that taxpayers are losing around £1bn a year by having to provide additional housing for those in need while fraudsters let out their properties against their tenancies.
Alan Bryce, author of the report, said: “There are nearly 50,000 tenancy frauds in London.
“Tackling this type of fraud is quicker and more cost effective than building the new homes needed to accommodate the approximately 70,000 London families in temporary accommodation or the over 300,000 families on the London housing waiting list.
“We call on the Regulator of Social Housing to provide leadership in this fight against tenancy fraud.”
One of the causes of the fraud are properties being let on short-let platforms, with the group calling on platforms like Airbnb to adopt more robust measures to tackle the fraud.
This should include “sharing information to support the recovery of homes from fraudsters,” Mr Bryce said.
An Airbnb spokesperson said: “Hosting in social housing is often illegal and has no place on Airbnb.
“We have created a clear, expedited process for local authorities to alert us to social housing fraud, and we swiftly remove these listings from our platform.
“We are committed to partnering with local authorities to tackle social housing fraud and have also worked with the Public Sector Fraud Authority to pilot an initiative to further help local councils identify and remove illegally let social housing properties.”
Under current estimates, there are around 800,000 social homes in the capital, around half of which are council owned, and around half of which are housing association owned.
There are approximately 70,000 homeless families in temporary accommodation in London, and over 300,000 families on the London housing waiting list.
