Two council house tenants have handed their keys back in after they tried to buy Stroud district homes they were subletting.

The fraudulent applications to purchase two of the 5,000 homes owned by the council were made under the government's Right to Buy scheme, which lets certain council tenants buy their home at a discount.

Stroud District Council, which would have sold the houses under a combined discount of nearly £100,000, has released details of the tenancy fraud cases while warning its tenants they need to be "confident" they are eligible to buy their properties.

In one case detailed by the council, a tenant tried to buy their council house with a potential discount of £50,000.

But council officers discovered the tenant was living elsewhere, and subletting the property.

After a six month investigation, which involved interviewing the tenant under caution, the tenant withdrew their application and had to leave their council house.

Likewise, the other case saw a tenant who was living elsewhere and subletting the property. Again, once councillors discovered this, the tenant agreed to return the property to the council, and the Right to Buy application, with a potential discount of over £45,000, was withdrawn.

Another investigation into a Right to Buy application made by a tenant and a family member revealed that the family member was living elsewhere, making them ineligible to apply.

Right to Buy rules state that family members can make a joint application but only if they have lived in the property for the past 12 months, so result the family member was removed from the application.

“These cases have resulted in 2 council dwellings being retained by the council on our register for social tenants. With a waiting list of over 3,000 every home is precious,” said Alison Fisk, Stroud District Council’s Head of Property Services.

“Anyone thinking of applying for the Right to Buy should be confident that they are eligible to do so, and be mindful that we will investigate each application thoroughly. Prospective applicants should read the advice on our website www.stroud.gov.uk/RTB.” she added.