A man who spent years letting his council house out to tourists through Airbnb has been handed a £100,000 fine.
Toby Harman, 37, had been letting his central London flat out for years under the name Lara - and even had a hot tub installed.
He was caught thanks to the reviews of the property, as guests thanked him by name for things like recommending good places to eat locally.
When they checked, his bank statements showed evidence of payments coming from Airbnb for several years.
Harman has now been evicted and told to pay back £100,974 in unlawful profits – one of the largest fines ever recouped by the council.
Andrew Smith from the council said: "Social housing is there to provide much-needed homes for our residents, not to generate illicit profits for dishonest tenants.
"It's illegal for council tenants to sublet their homes and we carry out tenancy checks, as well as monitoring short-term letting websites for any potential illegal sublets.
"Along with a six-figure unlawful profit order, by getting a possession order, we can now reallocate the property to someone in genuine need of a home."
Smith added: "We're also pressing Government to introduce a national registration scheme to make it far easier for us to take action against anyone who breaks the rules on short term letting."
Westminster Council is currently investigating more than 1,500 properties for short-term letting.
The council recovered 24 properties from fraudsters last year, which have now been reallocated to locals in need of a home.
