Royal Greenwich Prosecute Housing Officer For Subletting His Housing Association Property

by our RBG Correspondent | Woolwich

On 24 February 2016 at Woolwich Crown Court, Mr Carew, formerly of Keynes Court, Thamesmead, SE28 was given a 12 month community punishment order with 180 hours unpaid work for having illegally sublet his Gallions Housing Association property.

In 1998 Mr Carew obtained a one bedroom property with the Gallions Housing Association (now part of Peabody Housing Association) at Webb Court, Thamesmead SE28. In 2001 he applied for a larger property and in 2009 he was granted the tenancy of a two bedroom property at Keynes Court, Thamesmead SE28. Upon accepting the new tenancy Mr Carew declared to the housing association that he would be residing at the property with his wife and child.

In 2014 the Royal Borough of Greenwich began working in partnership with Gallions Housing Association to verify that their tenants were still residing at their properties and were not subletting.

Checks on Mr Carew identified that he had purchased a two bedroom house in Grays, Essex, in 2002 which he sold in 2004 and purchased a 3 bedroom house in Purfleet, Essex. Contact with Thurrock Council confirmed that Mr Carew had been initially residing at the Grays property and then residing at the Purfleet property with his wife.

It was also identified that Mr Carew had been working as a housing officer with the London Borough of Ealing since 2012.

In March 2014 Mr Carew was interviewed under caution by investigation officers of the Royal Borough and admitted purchasing the properties in Essex. He denied that he had been subletting but accepted he was not using the Keynes Court address as his main and principle home. Following the interview he returned the keys of the Keynes Court property to the housing association.

On behalf of Gallions Housing Association, the Royal Borough summonsed Mr Carew to appear at Bexley Magistrates Court in September 2014 for one offence under the Fraud Act 2006 where he pleaded not guilty and elected for trial at Crown Court.

In February 2016 Mr Carew appeared at Woolwich Crown Court and maintained his not guilty plea. The trial lasted two days and the jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict.

Mr Carew was sentenced to a 12 month community punishment and ordered to work unpaid in the community for 180 hours. He was also ordered to pay the Royal Borough of Greenwich costs of £4,272 within three months and to pay a victim surcharge of £60.

This case is the first prosecution arising from work undertaken by the Royal Borough in partnership with local Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) as a result of a successful bid to the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) for the Royal Borough to tackle social housing fraud working alongside RSL colleagues.

During 2013/2014 the Royal Borough began working with Gallions Housing Association (now part of Peabody), with the Royal Borough’s Unauthorised Occupation Team assisting the housing association in conducting a full tenancy audit of all their housing stock.

In addition to this prosecution, the previous work undertaken in partnership with the Gallions Housing Association has resulted in the recovery of 23 properties.

Councillor Maureen O’Mara, Cabinet Member for Customer Services at Royal Greenwich, said: “The demand for social housing, by people who are in genuine need is at an all-time high for all social housing providers. Due to the excellent joint working of ourselves and the Gallions Housing Association, we have managed to catch another housing fraudster so that justice can be served and homes reclaimed for those who do need them. The fact that he was a housing officer makes it even more difficult to accept. He should have known better.”

Nicci Talbot-Morris, Head of Neighbourhoods at Peabody Housing Association, said: “Peabody is committed to ensuring that people do not use our homes to profit from the shortage of affordable housing in London. We are delighted to have worked in partnership with Royal Greenwich to recover this property that can now be offered to people who are in genuine housing need.”

If you suspect someone of committing fraud against the royal borough please call 0800 169 6975 or email fraud@royalgreenwich.gov.uk. Any information you give will be treated in confidence.