Two people described by police as corrupt housing officers have been arrested in an investigation into alleged bribery and the fraudulent allocation of hundreds of council homes in the east London borough of Barking and Dagenham.
The City of London Police said the arrests were made on Thursday as part of a joint bribery and corruption inquiry, named Operation Chandrilla, following allegations that "several hundred" properties were wrongly allocated between Nov. 1, 2020, and Dec. 31, 2024. The suspects were taken to custody in Bishopsgate for interview, and enquiries remain ongoing.
Police said prospective tenants paid fraudsters "finder's fees" and inflated rents as part of the alleged scheme. Some rental payments were relayed in part to the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, while a significant portion was not, the force said. Investigators allege some of the properties were advertised on social media and subsequently sub-let by associates of the housing officers.
The borough's counter-corruption team and its wholly owned housing company, BD Reside, are assisting the City of London Police inquiry, the authority said. Dominic Twomey, leader of Barking and Dagenham Council, said the council's fraud team had been working proactively and that their work had helped lead to the arrests.
"Every day, our fraud team are behind the scenes, looking into anything from corruption concerns to illegal sub-letting," Twomey said in a statement. "Ultimately their job is to make sure public money is being spent in the way it should be, so I'm really pleased their proactive work has helped lead to today's arrests."
Social housing in England is allocated by local authorities according to locally determined criteria intended to prioritise households with the greatest need. The City of London Police said the alleged conduct would have affected members of the local community who were allocated council properties during the four-year period under investigation.
Barking and Dagenham faces long waiting lists for affordable homes. Council figures supplied to local media show standard waiting times of about 18 years for a three-bedroom social house and 67 years for a four-bedroom property. One-bedroom homes have a typical wait of six years, and two-bedroom homes around 12 years. Nationally, official figures for 2023-24 show 1,330,611 households were on waiting lists for affordable housing, a rise of 6 percent on the previous year.
The City of London Police declined to name the arrested individuals or to provide further operational details while interviews and inquiries continue. The force has urged anyone with information relevant to Operation Chandrilla to come forward.
Councils, legal aid organisations and housing charities have expressed ongoing concerns about corruption and illegal sub-letting in social housing in recent years, saying such practices can exacerbate already lengthy waiting lists and reduce the stock of available affordable homes. This investigation follows wider efforts across London and other English councils to identify and prevent misuse of social housing allocations and to hold those responsible to account.
No charges have been announced. The arrested individuals remain in custody while police conduct interviews and gather further evidence, the force said.