ILLEGAL subletting in Wiltshire costs the taxpayer £18,000 a year per family, according to Wiltshire Council, which is giving residents the chance to hand in the keys with no questions asked in a new drive to free up homes for those in need.

It will be holding the amnesty until February 10 before it begins a major clampdown on tenancy fraud using the latest software to help identify culprits.

The tenancy profiling software called Who’s Home was rolled out across the council’s housing stock in September last year and identifies where council properties are occupied by someone other than the council tenant.

Social housing tenants may be prosecuted for not occupying their home as their main residence and illegally subletting parts or the whole of their home.

Any tenants found illegally subletting their council homes could face up to two years in prison, or an unlimited statutory fine and will also have to pay back any profits they have made.

Dick Tonge, the cabinet member responsible for finance, said: “People subletting homes illegally are depriving another family of a permanent place to stay.

“We are giving those committing this crime a month to hand in keys with no questions asked.

“After that we will start our clampdown on this unfair practice which can deprive genuine families and individuals of a permanent place to stay.”

There are more than 17,500 social housing properties in Wiltshire with 5,319 of those owned by Wiltshire Council.

In their new clampdown, they will be examining all homes they own before giving housing associations the opportunity to use the software to check their properties.

Anyone who hands in their keys to end their tenancy during the amnesty will not have legal action taken against them and the council can re-let the properties to legitimate applicants on the housing register.

Keys can be handed in at County Hall.