ALMO housing officer jailed for social home theft

Published by 24publishing for 24dash.com in Housing and also in Central Government, Communities, Local Government

A housing officer has been jailed after pleading guilty to four charges against her for fraud and obtaining a social home by deception.

Adeola Adenuga, 38, worked as a tenancy officer for Lewisham Homes, which manages 18,000 homes on behalf of the council.

Mrs Adenuga changed the tenancy agreement of a property in Catford once its previous tenant – who had lived in there for nearly 30 years – died in 2005. She registered the home in various names, including that of her husband Paul Adenuga, who was also prosecuted.

Mrs Adenuga sub-let the property, paid the set rent to Lewisham Homes and pocketed the difference each week. Because the rent continued to be paid no alarm bells were triggered at the ALMO.

The deception was discovered in 2009 following checks against council tax bills.

It was also found the couple had also provided false information to fraudulently secure a tenancy in the Royal Borough of Greenwich, which had then been sublet for a higher rent. The Adenuga’s were not entitled to this tenancy as they already owned several other houses. Initially both denied all allegations until the commencement of the trial when Mr Adenuga pleaded guilty on the first day and Mrs Adenuga the following day.

On 3 October at Woolwich Crown Court, Adeola Adenuga was sentenced to 21 months imprisonment. Mr Adenuga was sentenced to 12 months suspended for two years with a requirement of 100 hours unpaid community work.

In sentencing His Honour Judge Shorrock stated that Adeola Adenuga was a housing officer and as such she knew how the system worked and so took advantage of her inside knowledge.

Director of resources at Lewisham Homes, Adam Barrett, said: “We look after peoples’ homes and we rely on establishing trust with our communities so that we can operate effectively. And that means our staff too. Actions such as those of Mrs Adenuga, who as an employee was in a position of trust, puts this trust and the work that we do, at risk. As an organisation we rely on our staff to be honest and act with integrity – it was another member of staff using our Whistleblowing Policy that enabled us to identify Mrs Adenuga’s dishonesty.”

Councillor Susan Wise, cabinet member for customer services at Lewisham Council, said: “The actions of Mr and Mrs Adenuga have meant that Lewisham families in real housing need have been deprived of a home. Social housing is meant for people who need it, not those who are greedy and seek to make financial gain by depriving others. Where we find cases of deliberate fraud we will always seek to prosecute.”