A BUNCH of profiteering landlords have bought up chunks of former council housing in Barnet, north London, a trade union revealed yesterday.

According to research by general union GMB, of 768 flats sold off under right-to-buy, 224 are now let out. Of these, 38 have been bought up by landlords with more than one property — developer Barratt Homes for instance owns a total of nine flats.

The union’s political officer Gary Doolan said the investigation had laid bare “the harsh reality of the exploitation of our social housing stock.

“It shows private businesses making vast profits from the public purse while the people these homes were built for sit on waiting lists that never move.

“To add insult to injury, many are using offshore tax havens to avoid paying tax on these profits.

“The companies we’ve found will be the tip of the iceberg in Barnet and throughout the rest of London and the UK.”

Barratt Homes came under fire last year for evicting hundreds of families from Barnet’s Sweets Way estate.

Of the 288 new homes the company plans to build on the site, only 59 will be what is classed “affordable.”

Barnet Labour group deputy leader Councillor Ross Houston said: “Half of all households in the borough cannot afford private rents, so it is a scandal that so many council homes sold under the right to buy in Barnet are now being let privately.

“This is pushing up the housing benefit bill, which has ballooned by 74 per cent since 2007 to £263.8 million as more and more people need to rely on support from the benefits system to be able to afford their rent.

“It is simply wrong that the benefits system is effectively subsidising wealthy private landlords while families are struggling to make ends meet.”

Prime Minister David Cameron’s flagship housing policy, set out in the Tories’ new Housing Bill, which is awaiting approval by the House of Lords, would effectively see the end of secure council tenancies and government investment in new social homes, as well as councils being forced to sell off “high-value” property.