A MAN forged a tenancy agreement and turned benefit fraudster to help his girlfriend pay the rent, York magistrates heard.

Adil Rafiq, 25, claimed housing benefit on the grounds that he was the tenant of 149 Thief Lane, said Jonathan Cripwell, prosecuting for City of York Council.

He sent the council a tenancy agreement in his name and claimed he was paying £460 a month in rent.

But in reality, the tenant was his girlfriend, who also lived in the house, and he was not liable to pay any rent.

The deception netted jobless Rafiq £517 in benefit he was not entitled to.

Rafiq, of Melrosegate, Tang Hall, York, pleaded guilty to benefit fraud.

Magistrates ordered him to repay all the money, plus £100 prosecution costs, and conditionally discharged him for 12 months.

Duty solicitor Jeremy Scott said Bradford man Rafiq came to York to be with his girlfriend when she had a work placement at York Science Park.

The couple agreed to share accommodation costs and she obtained the tenancy and moved in first on the understanding he would join her.

Then council benefit officers told Rafiq he could only get housing benefit if he was the tenant.

Because she had difficulty making ends meet and the landlord refused to allow jobless Rafiq to be a tenant, he made the false claim to get some money and forged a tenancy agreement with his name on it.

It was an unsophisticated offence that council staff detected in six weeks, said Mr Scott.

Rafiq had already made arrangements to repay the money and was sorry for what he had done. The couple now had separate addresses and no longer lived in Thief Lane.

Updated: 09:50 Friday, March 14, 2003