False information on Census Forms/Electoral Role

[bloodsuckingLOONEY]

I don't want to go into too much detail on here but can anyone point me to anything legal about what happens if someone puts you down as living at their property, even if you never lived there? This is very important for a case being built by someone I know and they are having trouble getting the council to do anything although we're sure this can lead to big fines and even prison if they continually do this (this happened for MANY years and has recently come to light). The person did this in order to get a house they should never have been entitled to.

Any help would be fab, thanks :)

Go to your Council Website and look up "electoral registration" I think there will be a declaration which you have to sign to say that to the best of your knowledge and belief the information given is true and accurate. It probably says you could be fined up to £1000.00 for giving false information. Each year the council normally sends a form for updating the Electoral register.

Have you seen the Electoral register ?

Giving false information in the census or on the electoral register leads to a fine of up to £1000. You say that the person did this to get a house they should not have been entitled to. I presume we are talking about a council house in which case this is a form of fraud, which carries much higher penalties.

Thanks for your replies :)

I've looked at the council website and nothing is mentioned about fines.

Yes, the house was a council house. In short, children left home aged 17 and then as soon as the first form came in once they'd turned 18, this person put them down as living with them still (was a previous address). Then this person managed to get a council house (no kids living with them but pretended they were and continued putting they did on the form). They were on the list as living with them for around 10/11 years so all those years it was false. The council house was later bought by them (at a greatly reduced price) so now the house is theirs.

This person is already being investigated by Custom & Excise for something else (another fraud thing) and there is also another (yes at least 3) big fraud things too.

At the moment we're trying to find out the actual penalty for continually lying on these forms year after year. The council didn't seem to be very helpful to them so I said I'd ask on MN :)