YOU have to admire the optimism of Oxford City Council with its amnesty over illegal sub-letting of social housing.
The council is to offer up a two-month window from August 1 in which people who are illegally sub-letting their council home and come forward will face no criminal action.
Amnesties of various kinds can have wildly varied results.
Police weapons usually turn up a decent haul, relying on a bit of guilt or motivating those who have never quite got around to getting rid of that samurai sword in the wardrobe. As you do.
But the city council faces a different problem with this sub-letting issue because people are not doing something illegal when all they have been is a bit lazy and forgotten to do something.
With sub-letting, tenants are either doing it for the financial benefit it brings or to help out (in their eyes) a relative.
What the council is relying on is that not only will the guilt make their targets fess up, but that they will also choose to forego what is probably a good few extra quid in the pocket.
Money is a powerful motivation after all.
We hope the council is successful but it is by no means a certainty.
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