3 hours ago
6
The Serious Fraud Office has arrested six people and raided seven sites in connection with a bribery and fraud investigation into a social housing fund.
The agency estimated there had been £300m of “suspected offending” at Home Reit, which was once listed on the London Stock Exchange.
National Crime Agency officers and SFO investigators carried out searches and made arrests at homes in Altrincham, Maidenhead and London as well as at a commercial address in Manchester. A further raid was conducted on a property in Venice, with the assistance of Italy’s Guardia di Finanza.
Home Reit was established in 2020 as the first London-listed property fund tackling homelessness and had ambitions to grow into a £1bn business and take 10,000 people off the street.
It raised £850m and used investor money to buy and restore properties to be let by publicly funded charities to house rough sleepers, veterans and people struggling with addiction. Returns to investors would come from rent payments.
However, the company was accused of providing substandard accommodation that resulted in charities withholding rents.
Ellie Reeves, the government’s solicitor general, said: “The allegations in this case are deeply serious. Vulnerable people, including rough sleepers and veterans, were promised homes, while investors who funded millions of pounds were promised returns. Both groups deserve answers.”
The shares also came under pressure after the publication of a report by Viceroy Research, an analysis company best known for predicting the crisis at Germany’s Wirecard.
The stock exchange suspended trading in Home Reit shares in January 2023, by which time the value of the company had shrunk by more than 70%.
It emerged in June 2024 that the Noble Tree Foundation, a homelessness charity that was one of Home Reit’s larger creditors, had entered administration and was not paying rent. The charity had already been in a standoff with the fund after withholding rents because of the condition of its properties, some of which had black mould and leaking ceilings.
Emma Luxton, the SFO’s director of operations, said: “This company had a meteoric rise, spending millions on properties that were supposed to house the most vulnerable in society and provide returns for investors. Its chaotic downfall has left many with unanswered questions.”
Home Reit, which said it was in the process of a “managed wind-down”, said it had “been made aware of reports of the SFO’s arrests and raids. Naturally the company will provide any assistance it is able to the SFO in pursuing its investigations”.
