A former Ipswich Borough Council tenant has been sentenced today (Wednesday 30 July 2025) at Ipswich Crown Court to a two-year prison sentence, suspended for two years, for social housing fraud offences relating to false applications for social housing.
Mr Mahmut Dagdelen of Braziers Wood Road, Ipswich was found guilty on 7 April 2025 of five offences of fraud under The Fraud Act 2006 at Ipswich Magistrates Court, three of which related to false housing applications and two relating to his Right to Buy applications.
Mr Dagdelen has also been ordered to complete 250 hours community service and a rehabilitation activity requirement (RAR), with a 6-month curfew between 7pm and 7am. He has been ordered to pay £5,418 in costs to Ipswich Borough Council.
The sentencing follows a lengthy investigation by Ipswich Borough Council’s Corporate Fraud team into offences of social housing fraud which took place over a period of more than six years, relating to false applications for social housing made by Mr Dagdelen.
The Council’s investigation found that Mr Dagdelen had applied for social housing whilst privately renting a property in Ipswich. In Mr Dagdelen’s applications he had falsely stated that his household income was less than £15,000 per annum and that he and his wife had no capital, savings and investments, meaning they could not afford to rent privately.
Mr Dagdelen had also applied for temporary housing after stating that his family would become homeless following the end of a private tenancy. He was provided temporary accommodation from April 2017 until January 2018 when Mr Dagdelen was given the tenancy of a council-owned 3-bed home, still based on the circumstances he had declared in his housing applications.
The offences came to light when the Council's Corporate Fraud Team identified that just 13 months after the Council tenancy had been granted, Mr Dagdelen had submitted anapplication to purchase the property at a substantial discount under the Right to Buy scheme.
Investigators found from his Right to Buy application that he had secured a mortgage and had amassed savings which he intended to use to fund the purchase. Enquiries subsequently identified that Mr Dagdelen jointly owned the leasehold of three commercial units in Ipswich, which were purchased outright in 2016.
Mr Dagdelen had failed to declare ownership of these leases and the rental income from the tenants in the three units in his housing application and had he done so he would have been expected to find privately rented accommodation.
Mr Dagdelen’s offending cost the Council £158,000, this being the cost of keeping a family in temporary accommodation who could have occupied the accommodation he was granted.
As a result of the investigation, Mr Dagdelen was served notice on his Council tenancy and vacated the property in July 2023, when it was reallocated to a family on the social housing register.
Councillor Alasdair Ross, Portfolio Holder for Housing at Ipswich Borough Council, said:
“We would like to thank our dedicated Corporate Fraud team for investigating this long and complex case and their work in bringing this case to justice at Ipswich Crown Court.
“Mr Dagdelen’s fraudulent activities are unacceptable, and his dishonesty prevented much-needed housing being given to families who have a genuine need. We must continue to ensure social housing is given to those who need it most and we are encouraging the public to support us in doing so by reporting any suspicions to us.”
A Proceeds of Crime hearing will take place at a later date.
If you suspect tenancy fraud please contact Ipswich Borough Council in confidence.