Benefit cheat made £9k renting out council flat

A RETIRED teacher raked in £9,000 by unlawfully renting out his council flat – while also claiming benefits.

Anthony Whewell, 64, sub-let the one-bedroom home to travellers all over the world for more than four years, a court heard.

He advertised it on accommodation website Airbnb as a “former local authority flat” and charged £30 per night, £200 per week or £700 per month.

Whewell received excellent reviews for the “friendly B&B at my place in Bury”. One visitor called him a “wonderful host”.

Meanwhile, he was claiming pension credit and housing benefit, magistrates in Bury, Greater Manchester, were told.

Whewell paid £65 a week to live in the town centre flat. His profits from sub-letting paid for luxury goods, including a £2,000 sound system, the court heard.

Bury Council, which took the case to court, said the flat was sub-let for around 500 nights before he was caught “fraudulently running a bed and breakfast business” in March this year.

Whewell pleaded guilty to unlawfully sub-letting a secure tenancy and fraud by false representation and was sentenced to a 12-month community order with 100 hours of unpaid work.

He was also ordered to pay £750 court costs and repay £1,000 to the council. An 18-month suspended possession order was imposed on Whewell’s flat.

Whewell, who describes himself as “jovial and bookish”, was away on a walking holiday yesterday.

His wife Martha said he was “a lovely, eccentric man who made a legal error due to naivety”.

Deputy council leader Jane Lewis said: “There are approximately 8,000 people on our housing waiting list. It is imperative that social housing properties go to people who need them most.”