Croydon is now matching council tenancy records against Airbnb listings. Five possible cases sit with its fraud team, and 34 homes were recovered last year.

Croydon Council has started checking its social housing records against Airbnb listings, and five possible cases have already landed with its counter fraud team. Each one will be investigated to see whether a council tenancy has been breached.

The council announced on 18 September that it had joined a data-sharing partnership between the Cabinet Office and Airbnb. The arrangement lets councils compare who is supposed to be living in a social home against who is advertising it for short stays.

The partnership was set up by the Public Sector Fraud Authority on 8 July. It is the first time a short-term rental platform has proactively shared data with government for this purpose.

The numbers behind it

Figures on tenancy fraud. Croydon in the past year: 157 tenancy investigations, 34 council homes recovered, an estimated 2.6 million pounds saved. Nationally: 470 potential cases identified so far, 450,000 properties covered, 5,800 social homes estimated to be sublet, 78,300 pounds estimated cost per case
Croydon's own tenancy fraud record, and the national picture. Graphic by Croydon Today, from Croydon Council's statement of 18 September 2026 and the Cabinet Office announcement of 8 July 2026.

Croydon’s own record is the more useful half. In the past year the council completed 157 tenancy investigations and recovered 34 council homes, which it values at an estimated £2.6m.

The national figures give the scale. Early results across all participating councils have turned up 470 potential cases of tenancy fraud. More than 450,000 properties are covered. The government estimates 5,800 social homes in England are being illegally sublet on short-term rental platforms, at an estimated cost of £78,300 for each case of tenancy fraud.

Croydon’s five matches are a starting point, not a finding. The council is clear that each will be investigated “to see whether a council tenancy has been breached and whether further action is needed”.

What the rules actually are

This is the part worth knowing if you rent from the council, because the line is not where some people assume.

  • You cannot sublet your whole council home. There is no version of this that is allowed.
  • You can sublet part of your home or take in a lodger, but only with the council’s written permission first.

Croydon’s tenancy fraud page puts it in terms of the law: “it is a criminal offence to sublet a council tenancy without permission”.

Where illegal subletting is confirmed, the council can act to recover the property, and unauthorised listings are removed from Airbnb. The council can also prosecute, under the Fraud Act 2006 or the Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Act 2013. That route carries a prison sentence of up to two years, plus two kinds of money order: unlawful profit orders, which claw back what was made from the fraud, and compensation orders, which recover what the council lost.

Someone evicted for tenancy fraud is, in the council’s words, “very unlikely to be given a social housing tenancy again”.

Executive Mayor Jason Perry said: “Council homes are a valuable and limited resource, and we will not tolerate people abusing the system to make a private profit whilst thousands of households are waiting for a home.”

Why 34 homes matters more than it sounds

Croydon’s housing register is the context for all of this, and the council publishes the numbers itself. On its page for people applying for a council or housing association home, it says:

  • “There are over 8,600 households on the waiting list”
  • “Within a year, only 1 in 10 households on the waiting list will be offered a tenancy”
  • “The current average waiting times are 8 years for a 2-bed, 9 years for a 3-bed and 8 years for a 4-bed property”

Against 8,600 households waiting, the 34 homes recovered last year is a small number. It is also 34 more than the council would otherwise have had, in a year when roughly one in ten applicants gets an offer at all.

What it means for you

  • If you are a council tenant with a lodger or a spare room let out, get the council’s written permission before anyone moves in, or before you list anything. Permission for part of your home is possible. Letting the whole home is not.
  • If you list your council home on Airbnb, the listing is now checkable against the tenancy record. That is the change here, and it applies whether or not anyone reports you.
  • If you are on the housing register, this is one of the few levers that returns homes to the list without building anything.
  • If you suspect fraud, the council takes reports by email at caft@croydon.gov.uk, and says you do not have to give your own details.

Croydon’s other big move on housing this month is unrelated but lands the same week: two new landlord licensing schemes open for applications on 25 September, covering privately rented homes rather than council ones. For what homes are selling for across the borough, see our Croydon house prices page.

Sources