Tenancy fraud investigations have saved Reading Borough Council more than £400,000 over the last 18 months.

Successful investigations are on the rise, with the council recovering 14 properties in the first six months of the 2018/19 financial year.

18 properties were recovered in the whole of 2017/18.

The council estimates that £480,000 has been saved in the last 18 months from investigations into tenancy fraud.

This is based on an RBC assessment that, on average, it costs £15,000 per year to place a family in temporary accommodation.

After recovery costs are considered – around £44,000 per year – the net saving is £435,000.

Tenancy fraud involves fraudulent applications for housing or successions of tenancy and subletting of a property.

The Council has a fraud team of four officers but does not have a dedicated resource on tenancy fraud.

On average, it estimates that spending on tenancy fraud is equivalent in time to one full-time employee.

The cost of one senior investigations officer is £44,021.85.

The National Fraud Initiative (NFI) has historically used a figure of £18,000 per year which would put the net saving at over half a million.