A Charlton man who made over £10,000 illegally renting out his council home has been convicted of fraud.

Marco Travez, 33, had obtained the one-bedroom home on Middle Park Avenue, Eltham in 2012, but council staff had not realised anything was amiss until they received a housing benefit application from someone at that address.

When investigators arrived at the home Travez was supposed to live in, they instead found another man who said he had been living at the home for the last four years.

The tenant told staff Travez was his landlord, not realising it should have been a council home and the fraudulent landlord was raking in a £200 profit in each month.

Between June 2012 and July 2016, Travez received rent of over £31,000, which gave him a clear profit of £11,722.22 once his rental payments to Greenwich Council had been deducted.

Travez originally tried to claim to investigators that they were getting confused with his previous work as a letting agent and was never renting his council home, but went quiet and refused to answer questions when he was shown the rent going into his bank account from his ‘tenant’.

Travez, of The Heights in Charlton, appeared at Woolwich Crown Court and pleaded guilty to two charges of fraud.

He was handed 12 months in prison, suspended for 18 months, and ordered to undertake 150 hours of unpaid work.

He also had to pay Greenwich Council the full profit he made from his illegal subletting, as well as almost £1,500 in legal fees to the council.

Upon sentencing Her Honour Judge Downing made it clear to Travez that she could have sent him to prison however she hoped this would be his first and last brush with the law.

Councillor Maureen O’Mara, cabinet member for customer services, said: “Mr Travez was caught out by his own greed and now has to repay the Royal Borough all of the profit he made from his disgraceful actions. Not only that but he also has been ordered to pay all the legal costs for bringing this action against him.

“Other than a criminal record, I am pleased to hear he has gained nothing from it. I am also happy to learn that the property in Middle Park Avenue has now been allocated to a person in genuine need who is grateful to have a home.”