A mum illegally claimed more than £13,000 in benefits while owning a house with a £1 million mortgage, a court heard.
Jo-Ann Moscicki, 34, claimed unemployment benefit for more than three years without informing the Department of Work and Pensions that she was the registered owner of Carleton Lodge, in Pontefract.
Leeds Crown Court heard Moscicki was arrested after it was discovered in 2011 that the house had been bought for £750,000 and she was named as having taken out a mortgage on the property “in excess of £1 million.”
Matthew Gent, prosecuting, said Moscicki made illegal benefit claims between 2006 and 2011.
She originally made claims for being unemployed and later received benefits for being a lone parent after her partner left the household.
During that time the mother-of-two failed to notify authorities that she was the registered owner of Carleton Lodge.
After her arrest Moscicki claimed to have given the property to her father as she could no longer afford it.
Moscicki, of Bates Hill, Pontefract, pleaded guilty to making a false statement to obtain benefit.
Michael Smith, mitigating, said: “Her father, who was a man of some means, wanted to buy Carelton Lodge in Pontefract with the aim of turning it into flats.”
Mr Smith said her father was unable obtain a mortgage in his own name as he had county court judgments against him so his daughter agreed to put it in her own name.
He added: “From day one her father paid the mortgage and she was simply the person whose name went in the documents.”
“When she filled the (benefit) forms in she assumed that she had no other assets. It doesn’t make her guilty of dishonesty. It makes her guilty of failing to declare a fact.”
Mr Smith said Moscicki has no previous convictions and he father had repaid the illegally claimed money.
Judge Rodney Jameson QC made Moscicki ordered to do 100 hours unpaid work and made the subject of a 12 month community order.
The judge told her: “I do not regard this as a trivial matter. But someone in your position does not require me to impose a custodial sentence.”