A man who fraudulently obtained a council flat near Buckingham Palace has been ordered to pay back nearly £500,000 after illegally renting it out while living with his wife in north London.
Fraudulent application and subletting
Saeed Yasin Hosseini was handed the one-bedroom property in Jessel House, Page Street in 2011 when he misled Westminster City Council about his circumstances, a town hall investigation found. He had claimed he was a single man staying in his parents’ temporary accommodation, when in fact he was living with his wife in a property she owned in Enfield.
Between 2013 and 2014 he was illegally subletting the flat in the red-brick mansion block just a 15 minute walk from Buckingham Palace and near Westminster Abbey for £650-a-month. Hosseini later bought the Pimlico property under the Right to Buy scheme, receiving a £100,000 discount on the sale.
Court proceedings and sentencing
Following his conviction for three counts of fraud in 2023, Westminster City Council launched Proceeds of Crime proceedings against Hosseini to recoup some of the cash he had made. They concluded at Southwark Crown Court this month and Hosseini was ordered to pay £494,415 within the next three months.
He also pleaded guilty to contempt of court after dispersing funds from seven bank and credit card accounts, in breach of a restraint order issued by the court in 2020, and received a seven months and two weeks sentence suspended for one year.
Councillor Caroline Sargent, cabinet member for enforcement, said: “This is a truly shocking case of someone deliberately and repeatedly cheating the system for their own personal gain. Council accommodation is a vital resource, intended to provide safe and secure homes for people who genuinely need them.
“Not only did this individual go to great lengths to defraud council resources and taxpayers’ money, but he also ignored previous orders by the court.
“I commend the work of our Anti-Fraud service for securing this prosecution and hope the harsh penalties will send a clear message that we will not tolerate people abusing the system.”
Wider anti-fraud efforts
Westminster City Council has increased its investigations into housing and tenancy fraud. A council tenant who was last year found renting out their Soho flat on AirBnB while living in France was among more than £1million of fraud identified by the town hall over the 12 month period.
The town hall’s Corporate Anti-Fraud Service found tenancy, housing and right-to-buy fraud was the most common form with 182 live cases. This was followed by parking and blue badges with 116 live cases.
