JAILED: Man deliberately mislead officials to get council house

Gousal Aziz Khan already jointly owned another property and failed to declare that he had previous convictions.

Khan was given a nine-week prison sentence over two charges of fraud at Wolverhampton Magistrates’ Court.

He was also ordered to pay a £85 victim surcharge.

The court was told that the matter was investigated after West Midlands Police advised the council that they believed that 34-year-old Mr Khan had not been at his council property at Slater Street, Tipton, for three months.

It was found that Mr Khan, who had the Slater Street tenancy since 2015, jointly owned a property in Alder Road, Wednesbury, with someone else and that he had previous convictions.

Neither of these had been declared in the details on his housing application for a council tenancy.

Mr Khan pleaded not guilty on his first appearance at court but was convicted in his absence having failed to attend court when required to.

He was arrested by police and sentenced at Wolverhampton Magistrates' Court on September 7.

Councillor Kerrie Carmichael, Sandwell Council’s cabinet member for housing, said: “The council welcomes this sentence and I hope that it serves as a deterrent to other people.

“All applicants should take note that the council takes a very strong line on people who acquire council property with untrue details on their application forms.

“The property has been recovered from Mr Khan as he was not living at the address and it has been allocated to someone from the housing waiting list.”

Councils check for housing fraud by checking tenants’ records for housing benefit and electoral roll.

Housing fraud includes not telling the truth when applying for a property or sub-letting,

It also includes remaining to live in a property without permission after someone has died.