£3,000 bill for Telford landlord who tried to dodge council tax
One of the directors of a lettings agency in Telford has been handed a court bill totalling more than £3,000 for creating false tenancies to avoid paying council tax on empty properties.
Satinderjit Singh Thiara, of Calcutts Road, Jackfield, appeared before magistrates at Telford Justice Centre.
He pleaded guilty to three counts of submitting false tenancy agreements contrary to the Fraud Act 2006.
The court was told in July 2018, Singh, one of the owners of First 4 Let (Telford) Ltd produced two false tenancy documents for a property in Burtondale, Brookside; one for a tenant who had left, the other for someone who didn’t exist.
He also submitted a 12-month tenancy agreement for a property in Dallamoor, Hollinswood, in the name of a couple after they had left.
By creating the false tenancy agreements, Singh made the people who were illegally named in the documents liable for council tax that he should have paid.
The hearing on Monday heard Singh’s actions caused distress to individuals whom he tried to make liable for his debts. He was fined £1,000, ordered to pay £2,183 costs and a £100 victim surcharge.
Warning
Councillor Richard Overton, Telford & Wrekin Council’s cabinet member for enforcement, said: “Council tax evasion is very serious.
“I commend our investigation team within our audit and governance department for their hard work and diligence in bringing this case to court.
“Let this be a warning to anyone else thinking of doing it in the future.”
Last month, it emerged nearly a quarter of a million pounds was saved by Telford & Wrekin’s fraud investigations team last year. A report to the authority’s audit committee said fewer than half of revenue fraud probes launched had a positive outcome for the council.
The investigation team, which consists of two full-time officers, saved the authority £227,735.92 in 2018-19.
Council tax and revenue cases accounted for just under a third of this.
The report authors said the system for reporting fraud has been simplified, with four separate online forms reduced to one, and new council staff are routinely trained on the whistleblowing process.
For more information on how to report council tax and benefit fraud visit telford.gov.uk/info/20403/change_in_circumstances/653/benefit_and_council_tax_fraud
