COVENTRY MESSAGE BOARD

Housing Secretary urged to come clean about her council tax situation as she seeks to impose extra 100pc charge on second homes



Angela Rayner has been criticised for having “three pads” after it emerged on Saturday night that she had added an £800,000 seaside apartment to her property empire.

The Deputy Prime Minister has bought a new “holiday home” in Hove to add to her three-bedroom grace-and-favour flat at Admiralty House, in central London, and a £650,000 constituency home near Manchester.

It comes at a time when she is looking to impose an extra 100 per cent council tax charge on second homes, leading to the Conservatives to call on her to “come clean” about her council tax situation.

The levy is being imposed as people living in popular holiday spots, including Hove, are unable to afford homes where they were brought up due to the number of people buying second homes.

Last year the Housing Secretary earned the nickname “Two Homes Rayner” due to her dividing her time between two right-to-buy council properties early in her marriage as claims emerged that she was renting out her home as she lived in the property of her then husband.

James Cleverly, the shadow housing secretary, claimed Ms Rayner was dodging parliamentary questions over her housing situation.

“Angela Rayner is responsible for housing policy, yet she won’t even be straight about her own,” he told the Mail on Sunday.

“Time and again she’s been asked to declare exactly what properties she owns and where she pays council tax, and time and again she’s dodged those questions.

“We’ve done everything possible to get answers, but she still refuses to come clean. That matters, because this is the same Deputy Prime Minister who’s hiked taxes on family homes across the country.

“If she’s not prepared to be open about her own affairs while taxing everyone else, the public will wonder what she has to hide.”

Richard Tice, the deputy leader of Reform, told The Telegraph: “Rayner is the Everest of hypocrisy.

“She laments a housing shortage, wants to soak the rich whilst selfishly building her own property mountain.”

Ms Rayner has been considering plans to increase council tax bills in wealthy parts of the country by £380 per year in order to move funding to poorer areas of Britain.

Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, is looking to increase property taxes in the autumn.

The Deputy Prime Minister originally designated her Ashton-under-Lyne constituency home as her “primary residence” on being elected into Government while her rented London flat, which she had prior to her grace-and-favour home, was described as her second home.

By doing so she was able to claim back the £1,621 council tax bill on the London flat from the taxpayer as it is one of the housing costs reimbursed by Commons authorities.

She will not reveal which property she is designating as her main residence.

If Ms Rayner continues to refer to Ashton as her main home, then the £2,034 council tax bill for Admiralty House would increase to £4,068 if classed as a second home.

She faces a £2,455 bill for two people at her new Brighton property as it is classified under Band D but single occupancy would see the bill reduced to £1,841.

The cost of council tax would increase to double if it was classed as a second home.

Neighbours have first seen her at the three-bedroom flat along with her on-off partner, Sam Tarry, since May.

It is understood that the administration of council tax for Admiralty House is handled by the Cabinet Office and Westminster Council, as has been the case for successive governments and secretaries of state.

Rayner used disabled son’s NHS compensation to buy second home



Angela Rayner used £160,000 from a trust set up to care for her disabled son to buy the £800,000 seafront flat at the centre of a sleaze inquiry.

The Deputy Prime Minister sold a 25 per cent share of her house in Ashton-under-Lyne to the trust for £162,500.

She said on Wednesday that her son, who was born prematurely, had received an award in 2020 and that a trust was then set up to look after his interests. The Telegraph understands the payout followed an 11-year legal battle waged between the Rayners and the hospital where her son was born.

Sources suggested the NHS had paid compensation following difficulties during his birth and subsequent care in 2008. Final payments can take years to be made because of the lengthy process for assessing long-term damage.

It’s unclear how much money was paid out as part of the damages claim but it was clearly sufficient for the trust to buy Ms Rayner’s share at the end of January this year. She then used the money as a deposit on the flat in Hove that she purchased in May this year, on which she now has a £650,000 mortgage.

But she paid only £30,000 in stamp duty rather than £70,000 that should have been paid in tax when purchasing a second home. Ms Rayner, having previously insisted she had paid all appropriate tax, now accepts that is an error. She is blaming that on the legal advice given to her when she bought the Hove apartment – although as Secretary of State for Housing it may be difficult for her to plead ignorance of stamp duty rules.

In a lengthy statement released on Wednesday, Ms Rayner, 45, insisted she had transferred her share of the house to her 17-year-old son’s trust to ensure he had “stability in the family home”. The trust is now understood to own 75 per cent of the house in Ashton-under-Lyne and Ms Rayner’s ex-husband the other quarter.

The Rayners set up a trust for their son in 2020 following the payout and in 2023, transferred half the ownership into the trust, then valued at £650,000.

She insisted the house at Ashton-under-Lyne, where Ms Rayner is constituency MP, remained the family home and her primary residence. “It contains the majority of my possessions and it is where I am registered for most official and financial purposes ranging from credit cards to the dentist to the electoral roll. But most importantly, it is where my children live and have gone to school and now college, and where I regularly live while caring for them,” she said.

She had sold her stake in the house and then used that to buy the Hove property. “Like many people, I used the lump sum from selling my stake in my Ashton home, which was the only property I owned and where my savings were, for the deposit on my new one. I obtained a mortgage to finance the rest,” she said.

But Ms Rayner is adamant that she had received legal advice on buying the Hove flat that she need not pay the extra stamp duty.

“When purchasing the property my understanding, on advice from lawyers, was that my circumstances meant I was liable for the standard rate of stamp duty,” she said.

Sources close to the Deputy Prime Minister claim she was given three separate pieces of legal advice from a conveyancer and two experts in trust law, all of which suggested the amount of stamp duty she paid was correct.

But the Telegraph revelations last week had prompted her to re-examine that advice and to seek out a leading tax barrister, understood to Jonathan Peacock KC. He is thought to have reported back on Monday that the extra stamp duty should, in fact, have been paid.

Sources suggested that had she waited a few months longer, until her son’s 18th birthday, she would not have owed the extra stamp duty because her ownership would have passed entirely to him.

Ms Rayner said: “I have now been advised that although I did not own any other property at the time of the purchase, the application of complex deeming provisions which relate to my son’s trust gives rise to additional stamp duty liabilities.

“I acknowledge that due to my reliance on advice from lawyers which did not properly take account of these provisions, I did not pay the appropriate stamp duty at the time of the purchase. I am working with expert lawyers and with HMRC to resolve the matter and pay what is due.

“The arrangements I have set out reflect the reality that family life is rarely straightforward, particularly when dealing with disability, divorce, and the complexities of ensuring your children’s long term security. Every decision I have made has been guided by what I believe to be in my children’s best interests.

“I deeply regret the error that has been made. I am committed to resolving this matter fully and providing the transparency that public service demands. It is for that reason I have today referred myself to the Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards, and will provide him with my fullest cooperation and access to all the information he requires.”

Angela Rayner’s lawyers: We never gave her tax advice



Angela Rayner’s lawyers claim they have been made “scapegoats” and did not give her tax advice, The Telegraph can disclose.

The conveyancing firm that handled the purchase of her £800,000 flat in Hove, East Sussex, insisted it had done nothing wrong.

The comments are a major blow to the Deputy Prime Minister, who has blamed “legal advice that I received” for her failure to pay a £40,000 stamp duty bill on the purchase of her seaside holiday home.

Verrico & Associates, a family company based in Herne Bay, Kent, confirmed that it had advised her on the purchase of the flat.

Joanna Verrico, the managing director, told The Telegraph: “We acted for Ms Rayner when she purchased the flat in Hove. We did not and never have given tax or trust advice. It’s something we always refer our clients to an accountant or tax expert for.

“The stamp duty for the Hove flat was calculated using HMRC’s own online calculator, based on the figures and the information provided by Ms Rayner. That’s what we used, and it told us we had to pay £30,000 based on the information provided to us. We believe that we did everything correctly and in good faith. Everything was exactly as it should be.

“We probably are being made scapegoats for all this, and I have got the arrows stuck in my back to show it. We are not an inexperienced firm, but we’re not qualified to give advice on trust and tax matters and we advise clients to seek expert advice on these.”

A spokesman for the Council for Licensed Conveyancers, which regulates such firms, said: “We have asked them for a full account of events.

“They are not licensed to provide tax advice. What they are licensed to do is to provide conveyancing advice, and they are regulated to the highest standards.”

It is understood the Deputy Prime Minister is arguing that she received at least three pieces of legal advice, including from the trust overseeing her son’s affairs and a conveyancer, supporting her initial position.

Two other law firms that have been involved in the trust or the sale of Ms Rayner’s properties have both publicly stated that they did not advise her on the stamp duty.

Shoosmiths, which set up a trust for her son in 2020, said: “We did not act for the Rt Hon Angela Rayner in relation to the purchase of her Hove property and/or the SDLT aspects of that property. Ms Rayner is not a current client of the firm and has not been for some time.”

A spokesman for mfg Solicitors LLP, which was involved in conveyancing on the Ashton-under-Lyne property, said: “We can confirm that we did not act for Ms Rayner in the purchase of her property in Hove, nor did we provide any tax-related advice in relation to it”.

Verrico is a small conveyancing firm that does not employ any qualified solicitors. Instead, they are licensed conveyancers who only focus on property advice and typically handle straightforward transactions.

Experts said Ms Rayner’s choice of firm cast serious doubt over whether she had sought appropriate legal advice.

The company involved in the sale is a six-person firm, two of whom describe themselves as licensed conveyancers, two conveyancer executives and two legal secretaries. It is based in a small office attached to a Co-op convenience store in a back street in Herne Bay.

Searches by The Telegraph confirmed that none of those listed working at the firm are registered with the Law Society or the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

While licensed conveyancers are trained to deal with all aspects of property law, experts advise that solicitors should be used for more complex transactions because of their broader legal knowledge.

Verrico & Associates’ own terms of engagement say: “A licensed conveyancer is a specialist property lawyer, qualified to advise on conveyancing law, probate and will writing only. If you need advice on other legal or non-legal matters… you should consult appropriately qualified professionals such as a litigation lawyer, a surveyor or a financial adviser.”

The terms add that they may agree to submit the stamp duty return but “if your transaction is complex, we may also suggest you obtain independent tax advice”.

Angela Rayner resigns over stamp duty row

Rayner’s departure is deeply damaging to prime minister who had initially stood by her

Angela Rayner has stood down from government after the prime minister’s ethics adviser found she had breached the ministerial code over her underpayment of stamp duty on her £800,000 seaside flat.

In a huge blow to Keir Starmer, Sir Laurie Magnus found that Rayner had “acted with integrity and with a dedicated and exemplary commitment to public service” but concluded she had breached the ministerial code over her tax affairs.

Rayner’s departure is deeply damaging for the prime minister, who initially stood firmly by her, and his authority has been badly bruised as a result. She has quit as his deputy and housing secretary, and as deputy leader of the Labour party.
Angela Rayner’s departure is an old-fashioned scalp for the rightwing press
Read more

Downing Street sources confirmed the prime minister would now conduct a reshuffle, but that Rachel Reeves would remain in post as chancellor.

In her resignation letter, Rayner said that she “deeply regrets” her decision not to seek “additional specialist tax advice” over her purchase of the Hove property.

She said that she “must also consider the significant toll that the ongoing pressure of the media is taking” on her family, despite her journey from “a teenage mum from a council estate in Stockport” to the highest level of government being “the honour of my life”.

Rayner’s departure leaves the Labour government without one of its most authentic – and powerful – working-class voices at a time when it is struggling to reconnect with its traditional voter base and trailing Reform UK in the polls.

Rayner had referred herself to the ethics adviser after confirming she would have to pay more stamp duty – which experts have predicted could run to as much as £40,000 – because she had incorrectly paid the lower rate on the flat in Hove.

At the time, Rayner said she “deeply regretted” that the error had been made, after classifying the flat as her only property despite spending much of her time with her children at the family house in Ashton, Greater Manchester.

dutchman wrote:Has she resigned over this or has she resigned to avoid even deeper scrutiny of her financial affairs?

Angela Rayner used £160,000 from a trust set up to care for her disabled son to buy the £800,000 seafront flat at the centre of a sleaze inquiry.