Wealthy couple's right-to-buy get rich quick scheme scuppered

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Finance expert Alistair Adams and his wife Vania live in a £345,000 detached home in Surrey and thought they could defraud Hammersmith & Fulham council out of a right-to-buy discount on a two bedroom council house.

But their plot to buy the home with the £16,000 discount and then install paying tenants was discovered by the council's fraud investigators.

Now Alistair, 45, and his wife Vania Adams, a 44 year old teacher, both from Manor Road, Richmond, Surrey have been fined £7,000 and ordered to pay £900 towards the council' s costs. They' ve also had to return the keys to the council property, 22b Edith Road W14, so that it can go to a deserving family.

They admitted they had never even moved in to Hammersmith, preferring to stay in the Surrey stockbroker belt with their children. They plotted their fraud in 1999, while renting a housing association property in Greville Road, Richmond. In a brazen display of brass neck, they didn't tell anyone that they had just bought a £140,000 home in Lambert Road, Richmond and moved in.

Their fraud was described by West London Magistrates Court District Judge Phillips as" an act of blatant dishonesty which deprived the council of scarce resources" . Mr and Mrs Adams admitted their attempted fraud," obtaining services by deception" when the case was heard on 3rd August 2005.

The conviction came after a four month investigation by the council's Housing Investigations Team. The court was told that on 11th of May 1999, Alistair and Vania Adams obtained the Edith Road home through the mutual exchange scheme, using their home at Greville Road home for the exchange.

Two years later they sold the Lambert Road property and used the £100,000 profit to buy their current home in smart Manor Road, Richmond. On 4th of May, 2004 they tried to buy 22b Edith Road, with a £16,000 discount, claiming they lived there. Mr Adams was fined £5,000 plus £500 costs. Mrs Vania Adams was fined £2,000 plus £400 costs.

Hammersmith and Fulham Councillor Reg McLaughlin said the case showed how successful the council was in combating fraud: "This demonstrates our commitment to defend council housing and crack down on those who attempt to get rich at the expense of the council taxpayers of Hammersmith & Fulham and deprive deserving people of a home. They thought we were a soft target. We are not."

August 14, 2005