Man who lied to get council home ordered to pay London council £23,000
A man who lied to get a council home and then tried to upgrade to a bigger property has been sentenced following a successful prosecution by a north London council.
A man who lied to get a council home and then tried to upgrade to a bigger property has been sentenced following a successful prosecution by a north London council #UKHousingMustapha El-Azouzi was sentenced at Snaresbrook Crown Court to a 20-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, after pleading guilty to fraud relating to his tenancy with Islington Council.
The council said that when Mr El-Azouzi applied for the tenancy, which was granted in 2018, he stated that he didn’t own any property. However, he was in fact a property owner in Ilford, east London.
In 2020, Mr El-Azouzi lied again about his housing situation in an attempt to transfer to a larger home.
In court, Mr El-Azouzi pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud, and was ordered to pay £23,000 in compensation to the council. He must also complete 120 hours of unpaid work and attend 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days.
John Woolf, executive member for homes and neighbourhoods at Islington Council, said: “Social housing is a vital lifeline for many families in Islington, and we will not tolerate those who try to cheat the system.
“This case shows that we take tenancy fraud seriously and will take robust action to protect homes for those who genuinely need them.
“I’m proud of the work our teams did to uncover this fraud. Since 2022, our housing fraud team has recovered 200 homes, with every recovered property representing a safe place to live for those on our housing waiting list and in temporary accommodation.”
Last year, a former Islington Council tenant was ordered to pay back £260,000 after fraudulently taking on a tenancy and then trying to buy the council home through the Right to Buy.
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