The level of government incompetence is absulutely staggering. Failure to carry out basic checks and spending public funds like confetti is an outrage. The entire team of clowns working at this council should be fired and made to make up the losses. He was a convicted fraudster and an illegal immigrant and still managed to hoodwink all the different government departments! Seriously, just disband this government department and start over with professionals.
Who is the person in charge that allowed someone on a visa to obtain social housing, and who just believes him without any kind of paperwork? Government stupidity at its best
Yet again in this series, it's the councils concerned that are truly shocking in allowing these cheats to get away with it with such ease. Their incompetence is responsible for costing the country so much money. There are criminals at every level of society and they deserve their comeuppance, however heads should also roll and procedures need to be overhauled at all of these councils.
Agreed 100%. If your car isn't taxed you get an auto fine. But they can't get the computer to report unauthorised names recorded at a council address. Scandalous.
There are a lot of gullble and impresisonable people working in that government department! They have no idea what's really going outside their insulated cooton-wool offices! LOL!
Yes the people committing the fraud are wrong....but I feel like the real issue is the certification/approval process. Seems like there are massive holes in the checks and balances.
I kid you not I know an illegal who got a nice flat in London, she got arrested but kept the flat. Allowed to stay she got 16k to leave, for a flat she should never have had. Took her 6 months to get it from getting off the plane!
This show gets me, lol, I'll never figure out why they don't do their research on a person, before giving them free stuff and money. I believe they should have some sort of accountability for not checking and let it go on so long, I bet if they did, they'd have a whole lot more council houses open, especially when the tenants sublet the house and then the fraud investigators wouldn't be completely shocked, when they figure out the person already has property, and or tons of cash in the bank, or them using someone else's identity, it's so easy for them to get this information, after someone turns them in, when if they would have just did it before, they'd save everyone time and money
Well let's face it, if you're an immigrant, legal or illegal the british tax payer foots the bill, always. Sick of it but nobody in power gives a stuff, PC rules always win, the indiginous population have no voice. There is not enough public housing in the UK, due to unrestricted immigration year after year. It's never going to end because nobody in power has the balls to tackle the problem. This is not my country any more, it's the country that has been foisted on us by decades of inadequate leadership .
Just as I thought, the fraudsters get away with little punishment. Toward the end the court case was settled by giving the property back and paying a small legal bill of the council. The fraudster was getting at least 1300 per month for years and when the council got possession they found that the property had been converted to 5 bedsits, meaning that way more than 1300 per month was being made. The fraudster accumulated tens of thousands of pounds and ending up being punished with just a couple of thousand as a legal bill, which they probably never paid. Totally ridiculous, no wonder people do these frauds!
Do they just take people's words when they fill out council papers? Because here in the states when you want to get rental assistance they go in your mouth and out your ass as far as auditing you before you get one penny. I assumed it was the same all over.
When i applied for my council home they checked everything- so maybe depends where you live and the efficiency of that council. I had to prove every single thing I put on that form
Well Caroline, you wouldn't have had to do that if you were an illegal immigrant! Sorry if that offends some people but it's true, our own people in need get nothing, and like Caroline says have to 'jump through hoops' to get anything. But turn up illegally in a boat in Dover and the system falls over itself to help, puts you up in a hotel, feeds and clothes you and then takes months to 'process' you. Meanwhile the taxpayers money is thrown at you and the organisations that are working for you, in the guise of 'refugee' status, paid for of course by the british taxpayer, do their best to make sure you're not deported. The system is being abused big time and all the Brits know it while our leaders turn a blind eye, why? I really believe this is political, especially from the labour party who started this whole thing off. Bring enough of them in, get their vote and you're in power, they all disgust me.
"For the council this is a great result!" Really? Is that what you think? This jackass should be fired. Now get all the money she made from the council property... every oenny of it. And charge them for the cleaning and refit costs. The council goons are actually making excuses for the scammers! Incredible.
@@Bubbles-ym9mu I watched a few of these episodes and 90% of those who defrauded the system were foreigners. It's a fact. So I'm asking what's going on. Simple as thar. Plus, I'm not British and don't live there. So your "sure, blame the foreigners" comment says more about you than me ;)
They could save a lot of time, money and legwork if they did a thorough pre-approval application process. It’s so much easier to do due diligence from behind a desk with a computer rather than an expensive ‘multi-layered’ game of cat and mouse wasting the public’s money. The Council as it stands, should be embarrassed to even be on this show.
How hard is it to do a suprise walk through, once or twice a year? They do that here in the states, they do a walk-through, once a year, nobody could get by with turning a house into an apartment building
It should be against the law to do pop up walk thru's I DONT WANT MY LANDLORD IN MY HOUSE he's crude racist homophobic and has made graphic sexual statements to me I really don't want him here tomorrow he's a idiot beyond words he cracked my bathtub while fixing showerhead I don't WANT HIM WONDERINF AROUND MY HOME asking questions picking up mail etc
You cannot. Your landlord also cannot do a surprise walkthrough in the States. Unless it’s a legitimate emergency, they must give you 24 hours notice before making entry. Note: This is not legal advice.
I think what ever system they use to vet people out needs a major upgrade. Regular inspections should also be the norm. The amount of money wasted on scammers or abandoned properties is a shame. Especially considering people in true need on the waitlist for so long. They can put the money into a better system rather than “investigating” fraudulent claims 20 years later.
Social housing of many types (including privately owned to "people in need" and paid for by housing benefit) increase the scarcity value of what is left for normal people with full-time jobs who have to struggle. Tower Hamlets if full of Somalis and Bangladeshis who allegedly have no full time work, why can't they be housed in cheaper areas rather than prime Central London where small flats cost half a million???? If all this housing stock would be freed rather than earmarked, the price of housing should drop automatically.
Since this video was made , there is now a daily tsunami of, mainly young, men coming over from France in small boats. How are these providers of social housing coping , I wonder.
I do hope they treat these applicants who have no right to claim anything in the UK with the PC that we appear to be using for all and sundry. Some of the customer service staff can be quite if not more than quite oppressive towards those who are upfront and genuine, Meanwhile there is a "Welcome to the UK, where you can really have it all for free" for those who come here and cheat and lie. I know it is all nationalities and yet the reason most come is because they are told of the 'soft ways of the UK and the easy ways to take. If you are upfront and honest you are likely to be waiting for a long time for council property. I have watched on here and in RL the truth of it all. We are second class citizens in our own country and there are so many defrauding and fiddling the system, that is how we will stay. I saw a council block of flats renovated in 2002 for Afghanistanis mainly but many others came also. They were accepted asylum seekers. It was just across from the Salvation Army hostel for the homeless, which had 113 residents and some of those were veterans. They could look out of the big lounge window and see the renovated flats and so many young men with lifetime tenancies. One young man in the hostel waited for 2 years and you could only remain in the hostel for 2 years, he was 'lucky' to be given a manky flat right away from the main town, while the renovated block was 2 bus stops away from the town centre. No-one appears to be doing their job properly and still far too many who never worked here have lifetime tenancies through various councils and claim benefits. I wonder if the time will come when all of this is properly investigated and those who should not be here are actually deported, for the word is often used but with the left wing lawyers and free legal aid and this section and that, they remain in the UK for years, taking all they can. I am ashamed to be British I have no issue with anyone coming into the UK to work and contribute, but this economic migrant scenario needs to be stopped and fast. How are they being allowed to take so much of the taxpayers and no-one seems to be aware or care. It just goes on and on and I do wonder how many more will come for there is far, far too many young men of fighting age already here and what they are all up to who knows? I doubt that intelligence can be watching all the ones they know of in the UK and the numbers they are not aware of possibly risk more of a security breach than the known terrorists
@@gardengeek3041 It is a summing up of a number of political strands that are in play in the UK. It is my opinion based on research and there is no need to 'SUM UP' my own opinions, please there is no need to shout. I am sure you have opinions of your own and no-one shouts at you to sum them up. I am expressing my opinion and not submitting a report!
People who work full time earning over £2k a month can't afford more than a room in a shared flat. Nobody should have presents from the taxpayers. You work for it, or your family worked for it.
What??? It depends on where you want to live. In London absolutely the cost of living is expensive, but if you move to the midlands you can get a private flat for less than £800. I live in London, but i lived in the midlands for years and I had a beautiful private flat for less than £750 all bills included, so it is possible. I do not know any adult who is not a student who lives in a shared flat.
@@pariswright7094 Both my daughters live in London, one pays 800 for a room in Ravenscourt Park and the other 750 for a room in Finsbury Park (in shared flats). They both earn about 2500 a month, working very long days. A flat is minimum 1600 plus bills. They would have to earn minimum 3k to afford them. There are no "studios" to be had unless you go to the Olympic Village or Docklands where they are very expensive. Meanwhile, all around the place there are people living in independent properties (council or private) paid for by benefits because they don't work or don't work full time (must be on purpose because there is plenty of work in London). You must live in a well-off circle of friends and relatives or people who inherited money or property.
@@ileanamuntean7338 clearly you did not read my post. I explained that I was not including London. I explained that London was expensive, but flats in the midlands were cheaper. So, I am confused with your response.
@@pariswright7094 I was mainly replying to "I do not know any adult who is not a student who lives in a shared flat"., as you had explained that you live in London, I assumed you might refer to people in London. Difficult to move to the Midlands when your work is in London. Meanwhile people from Ghana who do not have jobs are housed in Kensington (well, North) by housing associations because they have "demonstrable ties to the area". Although I am against social housing of any sort, if there is to be such a thing working people should have a priority, the others should be offered housing in cheaper areas. I find it bizzare that some people live for free in a place that could cost a working family one million to buy (the cost of a terraced house in Balham, let's say).
Not being funny but I live in the north east a flat will start from £800 a month that's without all Ur bills. This is supposed to be a cheap part of the country to live in. Someone on minimum wage earns less than 2k a month here.
What I don't understand is why the information from one department in the council is not a available to all other departments? It doesn't even have to be all information. They need to set up a system where when the name is put into the system there would be a warning sign and who to contact within the council for more information. This would have prevented the same man from getting anything else from the council. Another thing, is if the social services offices are like those here in Canada the workers are vastly overworked. (Most of which have lost their entire sense of humanity.) Given the amount of money they lose because of fraud, they could hire extra staff which would therefore allow the intake workers to do a better job of vetting the applicants. Or they could have a separate department dedicated to the information gathering of the applicants. It would go a long way in cutting the council's losses. And yet another thing, they are being much too lenient on the fraudsters. Once they are caught, there should be an automatic jail term the length of which would depend on how long it's been going on and how much funds have been taken. The tenant should be made to pay the entire sum they've defrauded including the rent. And no more of the council being willing to not go to court just to get the keys back. All fraudsters should be treated the same. The only way to deter these types of people is to make the consequences harder. Once word gets around about what will happen the fraudsters may start thinking twice before ripping off the council.
So she spent 2k in costs avoided prison and maybed made around 30k 40k?? In rent by sub letting and then ruined the property??!! And the council allowed that??
Seems really obvious to me that there needs to be more systems integrated. Passport / Border Control / Criminal Records / Ni / Housing / Tax .. they all operate on their own systems and do not interlink. If you had one profile like you get a GOOGLE profile now, and it integrated into everything it would make a huge difference. Need way less staff and there woudl be way less fraud.
seems to me that England's issue is that they seem to "care" more about immigrants that Home grown Brits. Just an observation. Maybe build housing outside of the city. Having public housing in the most expensive areas seem idiotic. We have the same issue in the US. but our public housing is normally run down and overtaken by criminals that should be in jail and there is a lot of abuse of the system but at least the housing is in "low income" areas not smack in the middle of downtown.
WHAT??? ITS IN AN "LOW INCOME AREA" wht ur really saying is thank god!!!God!!!! THE poor the brwn/blk ppl aren't near me🤔YOU SOUND JUST A TINY 🤏🏽 BIT RACIST
How does any part of this story prove that they care more about immigrants? As far as the council was concerned, the tenant was British. Yes, more checks should have been done to confirm his nationality or immigration status, but that is not the same as caring more for immigrants than for British citizens.
I live in Canada and in housing and they come every 3 months to check smoke detectors but they r also using the opportunity to check the property and every year u must turn in ur tax return and any pay stubs and bank statements idk how they get away with this I the uk
If that guy is a successful business man how come he qualifies for council property in the first place aside from his deception, illegal immigrant etc?!?! 😂🤔
“To put yourself up the ladder, ahead of someone else is a dreadful thing to do” 26:00 - says the person who was promoted to be a manager at the council.
Where is the deterence factor if the Council just accepts the property back? No court, no punishment. Since when are prosecutors an additional charge and a reason not to prosecute? Defense attorneys are a fee paid by the defendant, the prosecutor is on the books already being paid for by the tax payers. You might as well put their expertise to work.
First mistake was taking his word for it without any legal documentation that he was actually from the UK and British. I mean come on now you would think this is was your first rodeo. Play stupid games when stupid prizes . You brought this on yourself. Also. Why are you not doing more frequent , unscheduled inspections of the property instead of letting it go for years and years. Many countries and states do these frequent inspections and reevaluation‘s. The unscheduled inspections are done at least twice a year and the reevaluations and recertification‘s are done yearly so why aren’t you implementing these to protect your properties ,your finances and open up housing for the people who really need them? Sounds like a lot of laziness on your part. How you act all surprise and taken aback by the shenanigans going on is really ridiculous given the fact that you do nothing to protect yourselves from such shenanigans. Y’all just look foolish and like you don’t know how to run your business very well. He was deported to Nigeria so again. How is it that “Americans” advised him on his illegal activities?
It is laughable that at the end of every segment they say the unit is now occupied by a "deserving person". That's what they thought with the previous tenant too.
Council housing. So many reasons why there is a shortage and rife with corruption. Properties were sold off. Money not reinvested in further housing, for starters. Earnings threshold not reviewed effectively. Nepotism and housing provided to friends and family. Depending on type of tenancy difficult to evict. Social housing is given to those in priority need, this causes resentment amongst others that wait for years to get rehoused in a bigger property. Maybe explored that and the standards applied. These cases are extraordinary. There are many people that go unnoticed that sublet and fraudulently claim benefits. Social housing needs to be more transparent and have a complete overhaul. Not just in Croydon, everywhere. They displace families by moving them to areas with cheaper properties,no support network and often with other social problems,which then become the new council’s problem. This documentary is an insult to those in need of social housing. The condition of the properties they are frequently offered, are abysmal. When they protest they are told they are not homeless and then remove them from the housing register. The money spent in investigating fraudsters might be better spent in building/buying more fit for purpose housing.
What I dont understand is that this chap had a fail asylum so in theory did not even hold a valid visa or leave to remain status let alone a British passport. As a landlord that is the first thing I need to check for any tenant weather they have any right to remain in the UK or hold British passport by checking his/her passport and any paperwork link to the passport as a basic check along with his/her pay check or benefit status. Its a basic first thing to check before even proceeding further. Why is it any different for council.
Here in Singapore it's crazy! Even if u are homeless,and they feel like ur family house got space and they are still alive they won't let u have a rental . 99% u will be rejected. It's very strict to get 1 It's only for divorcee with kids or old people I rent for 17 years!! And I'm Singaporean! They force u to buy but the minimum income needs to be 7k. Middle income don't even reach 3 k! They just gave no choice for singles. They want married couples to have a house while leaving the rest homeless .
There's zero punishment for these people. It's easy to see why it's tempting to sub let. I could move out & leave my adult kids that live here, pay the rent. Because if we got caught, there's no comeback. Maybe a small fine, but it's like fining someone a tenner for not paying their £200 car tax the last few years lol
So the dude with the failed. asylumAnd yet filled out paperwork and bought his counsel house that’s on that system that gives up the council houses they dropped the ball they didn’t do their research
Watching all this videos you ask your self a question how the hell council let it happen. 10y illegal renting here 15y illegal renting there... We see the perspective of frauders but not the council fault...
i don't understand why in the show they randomly show IT equipment that has nothing to do with the show: they have been showing switches, repeaters and hubs, what are they trying to show? that there are powerful servers in action to process the data?
Almost in some cases. You can claim housing benefit, this will be paid to assist your needs based on your income. Some people get their full rent paid, plus a discount from their council tax, others get some of their rent paid, whilst others will get nothing and be expected to pay their full rent, such as if in permanent, full time employment. This sadly is what leads to what’s known as the ‘benefits culture’, when people choose not to pursue work of any kind, so they don’t need to pay anything, and live entirely from the state, and those of us who do work full time and pay taxes, fund that lifestyle. There are a lot of documentaries on a channel called ‘Real Life’, where the attitudes of these people are highlighted. They deliberately perform poorly in interviews for employment. It also seems to be a family cycle: as many kids as possible, from an early age, claim every possible benefit. These are the people with the latest technology in their homes, huge TVs, nice cars and annual family holidays overseas. It’s absolutely NOT everyone, but there definitely are a few who see it as almost a career choice. (Sorry! This comment turned into a bit of a rant, it just infuriates me! I work hard long hours as an NHS nurse, and I couldn’t dream of having the holidays, cars and mega TVs that I’ve seen in the homes of people claiming everything they possibly can).
In most cases. So in London, you have working people living in tiny rooms in shared flats and next door you have jobless people living in independent accommodation. Go figure.
@@squidguard4743 oh I’m sure they do, and probably should have made it clear that this is the few not the many. I do know one couple in particular who I’m certain are not being honest about many things, eg, that they live together. They have a disability vehicle, but both took part in mini marathons and other highly energetic sporting events - yet one uses crutches when attending GP surgery, hospital appointments etc. One time it was noted that this person attended appointment claiming almost complete immobility and terrible pain, the day after this appointment he began his walk along the West Highland Way (a difficult and long hike/walk for experienced hikers/walkers, it can take many days to complete). This is the couple who go to Portugal twice a year, actually this New Year just past, they went to Morocco. I do know if other families who take foreign holidays and lives ‘apparently’ entirely on benefits, but when I’ve looked at what’s available for people, and the max they can claim on each as a single person with children, this still doesn’t amount to enough to afford their lifestyle.
Very shallow TV. I personally don’t have a TV for the above reason. It’s great on youtube as you can avoid the cut & paste presentation nonsense and just forward to the last couple of minute regarding each case. Looking at the sentences given to the offenders it’s very much in Shakespeare’s words, ‘much ado about nothing’. Authorities have to be very naive to think the punishment fits the crimes. (Although the justice system is out of their hands) For the career criminals it’s a very worthwhile calculated risk to hoodwink the councils. Most people would jump at the chance to do a couple of years inside for a few hundred grand with no monies recovered. It’s a no brainer in normal or difficult times for the opportunist to break the law. We all understand the need for councils to investigate and evict.Unfortunately with the ridiculous leniency of the courts the system generates and regurgitates its woefully inadequate not fit for purpose problems which contributes to a broken society! Now back to my books.
I really like the way the council houses look. Makes it easier to blend in to the rest of the neighbourhoods. BUT I also think it's a gross waste of land. Put up medium rises to high rises in their place. The councils could reduce their waiting lists substantially by putting their land to a much better solution. Also, and this next bit is very close to my heart. As a single person I am discriminated against. I am only allowed to have a studio apartment or a one bedroom. If I can afford a two bedroom then I should be allowed to have a two bedroom.
The reason single people aren't allowed to have a larger property is because - if a person was entitled to 3 bedrooms and paid fir a 4 or even 5 bed then families needing a 4 or 5 bed would be left without a home!
Yes, that's the same reasoning given here in Canada. I do understand why but it still makes me a tad irked. In the subsidized high rises they quite often have "street value" which is still lower than regular buildings. I live off my old age pension and the going rate for a decent, clean bug-free one bedroom averages about $1700 and that doesn't always include utilities like electricity and heating. My pension is approximately $2,000 per month which doesn't leave me much to live on. The small city I live in has areas that are more expensive than Toronto which is only 120 miles down the road. Thanks for listening to my rant.
