![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/the-tenant-occupied-a-flat-in-kemp-house-soho.png\")
<\/p>\nA fraudster secretly rented a council flat in Central London on AirBnB, despite having already moved out of the property.<\/p>\n
The Westminster council tenant relocated to France while subletting their social housing property, but has now been exposed by the local authority’s anti-fraud team. <\/p>\n
The tenant, who occupied a flat in Kemp House, Soho, was discovered to be advertising the council property on the holiday rental platform.<\/p>\n
The scheme came to light following a tip-off to Westminster City Council’s Corporate Anti-Fraud Service, prompting an investigation that revealed the tenant had returned to their country of birth.<\/p>\n
The tenant occupied a flat in Kemp House, Soho<\/p>\n
Google Maps<\/p>\n
It is part of a series of fraud cases totalling over \u00a31million uncovered by the council within a twelve-month period.<\/p>\n
During their investigation, fraud officers uncovered that the tenant had departed for France, their native country, whilst maintaining possession of the council property.<\/p>\n
The probe revealed that \u00a312,000 had been transferred to an unidentified individual who allegedly managed the Airbnb listings.<\/p>\n
When questioned under caution, the tenant shifted responsibility to this mysterious third party.<\/p>\n
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS<\/strong><\/p>\n They maintained they had no knowledge of the payments generated through the short-term lettings.<\/p>\n Westminster’s anti-fraud team remained unconvinced by these protestations, proceeding with enforcement action against the tenant.<\/p>\n The team determined the property was both unoccupied by the legitimate tenant and being unlawfully sublet, breaching tenancy conditions.<\/p>\n The court proceedings resulted in a possession order against the tenant, with the tenant having to pay a fine of \u00a312,890.<\/p>\n The financial investigation exposed that \u00a312,000 had changed hands<\/p>\n GETTY<\/p>\n The case was among 331 investigations concluded by the Corporate Anti-Fraud Service between April 2024 and March 2025, as detailed in the council’s fraud report.<\/p>\n The successful prosecution formed part of Westminster’s broader crackdown on housing fraud, which identified 182 active cases involving tenancy violations and unauthorised subletting.<\/p>\n![\"Money](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/money-in-pocket.jpg\")