Moseley man jailed after lying to get a council house

A man from Moseley, Birmingham, was jailed for 16 months at Birmingham Crown Court today (5 January 2017) after lying to get a council house.

Mr Mbarak Abdallah, aged37, of Chinn Brook Road, Moseley, Birmingham pleaded guilty at Birmingham Magistrates Court on 8 December 2016 to two fraud offences for falsely completing both a homeless application and a housing application which resulted in him getting a council house at Milston Close, Brandwood, in 2012.

In 2014 Birmingham City Council received a tip off that Abdallah’s claim was false and the council’s Internal Audit Fraud Team investigated.  The team found Abdallah was in fact the owner of the property from which he had claimed he was being evicted.  Not only that, but Abdallah had privately rented the property while he and his family were living at the council property.

Abdallah surrendered the tenancy for Milston Close during the investigation while he was serving a prison sentence for another crime, having held the tenancy from 3 September 2012 to 18 January 2015.

Cllr Peter Griffiths, Birmingham City Council’s cabinet member for Housing and Homes, Cllr Peter Griffiths, said: “At a time when we have thousands of genuinely homeless families in Birmingham, in dire need of a council house, Abdallah decided to exploit the system for his own financial gain. Today’s sentencing sends out a clear message – we take tenancy fraud allegations seriously and we will prosecute.”