The £300,000 three-bed council house left EMPTY because a family of five said the area was 'TOO POSH' for them to move in

Neighbourhood officer Jas turns investigator as one of her properties is empty in Channel 5's Somewhere to Call Home: House Yorkshire

A FAMILY-of-five left a three-bedroom council house empty and never moved in because they said the area is "too posh".

The semi-detached £300,000 property in Leeds also wasn't big enough for entertaining, according to the family who rejected it.

It had been left vacant for six months while other families in need were waiting for housing and was discovered by a housing inspector after a neighbour reported concerns.

In a new Channel 5 series Housing Yorkshire: Somewhere Called Home, neighbourhood officer Jas confronts the family - initially termed as "high priority".

The husband and wife have three children, including a disabled child, and have been accused of fraudulently acquiring the property in the hope of selling it for profit under the "right to buy" housing scheme.

When she goes into the plush house she finds barely any items, an empty fridge and limited clothing.

And instead found the family were living in the home they had claimed was inhabitable, in order to get the new property they had left vacant.

She said: "When i'm meeting people for the first time, I know when they're trying to pull a fast one.

"When I first started the job i had these lovely rose tinted glasses on.

"I think you do learn, you just know when something is wrong or something is right."

The new show follows people on the frontline of one of the country's biggest social housing providers.

They can be sent out for a number of reasons including disputes about noise or if a tenant has failed to pay rent.

But Jas says she thinks the people who are supposed to be living in the house were planning to buy the property at a discounted rate and then sell it on.

She spoke to neighbours and took photos of the energy meters, as well as popping by the house they said they couldn't live in.

She added: "There are people out there that know how to play the system, they do know what hoops to jump through in order to get on top of the waiting list.

"People do lie to get what they want."

During a confrontation the tenant revealed she didn't want to move in to the offered property as it is "too posh", adding she had sold her old house to a family member.

The family instead wanted a four-bed house nearer to her mum and sister.