ILLEGAL council house tenants are being given a month to hand back their keys or face a major clampdown.

Council bosses in Tendring are holding their first ever tenancy fraud amnesty in a bid to reclaim council houses from people who shouldn’t be living in them.

Tendring Council has more than 3,200 properties and it is believed that a small number are occupied illegally.

It is giving people the chance to come clean and hand over their keys during March – with no questions asked or legal action against them.

The move comes ahead of a planned a crackdown on tenancy fraud across the district from April 1.

Housing boss Paul Honeywood said it is time to “flush out” people who have a council home illegally and are depriving others on the waiting list.

“Tenancy fraud affects families on the housing waiting list and it is estimated that it costs taxpayers at least £900million a year across the country,” he said.

“We do not for a minute imagine this is a major issue in Tendring but we will only know when we delve deeper and undertake the crackdown.

“We will mainly be acting on information received. In the past financial year we had reports of around 30 cases and we encourage people to get in touch if they suspect a tenancy fraud is being committed.”

During the amnesty people can return their keys in an envelope to Clacton Town Hall with the address of the property.

Anyone caught out after April 1 will face legal action to end their tenancy.