They're missing the obvious solution

AC1 draws my attention to an article in The Times on the topic of illegal sub-letting of council housing. Let's take these numbers at face value:

In parts of Westminster council, for example, the rent for a three-bedroom council house would be £114 a week. But the market rent for the same or similar property would be as much as £550 a week, netting the sub-letter £22,672 a year.

And what's their inevitable solution ..?

Some sort of 'crackdown', of course, and "Once fraudsters are identified, tenants in homes that have been sub-let will be evicted after a court order. The illegal tenants would be rehoused only if they would have been eligible for council housing anyway. But tenants who have abused the system by sub-letting property would lose their right to a council home and have to pay back any rent owed."

This ain't going to work, of course, why would it?

So, how about the free-market solution? All Westminster Council has to do is offer an amnesty to those people who are paying £550 a week and offer to allow them to continue in occupation at a modest discount to market value, let's say £500 a week, on condition that they report their erstwhile landlords.

HMRC can collect income tax on the illegal landlord's £22,672 profits for each of the past few years. Westminster Council can then (hopefully) reclaim all the rent the illegal landlords have been collecting privately,. DWP can go after them for all the Housing and Council Tax Benefit that the illegal landlords have been claiming - and if these 'agencies' co-ordinate their attacks, they might end up with a more than 100% reimbursement.

In future, Westminster Council will be getting £500 a week rent from all these flats (which over time they can bump up to £550, of course), rather than just £114, so they've got more money to spend on other stuff, like building more social housing, if necessary.

What can possibly go wrong?