Knights’ Housing team, led by Tara Cornish, successfully represented a housing association in a claim of unlawful sub-letting – recouping the client’s costs and obtaining an Unlawful Profit Order of almost £12,000 at the first court hearing.

Helen Gascoigne represented not-for-profit social housing provider Moat in a tenancy fraud claim against a tenant found to be unlawfully sub-letting one of their properties.

The defendant had been sub-letting the property to an unsuspecting third party for £150pcm more than the £550 charged by Moat but the entirety of the rent was being covered by Housing Benefit so as a result, the tenant was pocketing the full £700 profit each month.

This formed the basis of the Unlawful Profit Order claim, which Knights’ team worked with Moat to submit – drawing on the team’s years of tenancy fraud expertise to ensure a decision was made at the first hearing. 

The property has now been returned to Moat, and a total of almost £12,000 in unlawful profit, plus costs, must be repaid to Moat by the defendant.

Helen Gascoigne, Senior Associate at Knights, said:

 “This is a great result and is the culmination of a really close working relationship with Moat, whose team worked hard to gather the evidence.  

“Once we had that evidence we were able to draw on our team’s expertise to ensure the case was not drawn out across several hearings, ensuring a swift outcome for Moat.

“It was so important that we achieved that, because demand for social housing is huge. Moat can now re-let the property to ease that demand.”

Evidence for the case was gathered by Moat’s Neighbourhood Operations Manager Amanda Morait.

Amanda Morait said:

“We’re so pleased to have achieved an outcome that is fair and fitting. As a social landlord, it is vital that our homes go to those most in need, particularly when housing supply is short and demand is high.

“We have worked tirelessly over a significant period of time to pull together all of the details. Helen has been instrumental in making sure our case was ready for court.

“Most importantly, we’re now able to let this property to a household in genuine need.”