- Further scrutiny into tenants confirmed
- Investment manager says 2022 annual report still coming
Suspended homeless accommodation landlord Home Reit's (HOME) charity tenants are all under scrutiny from the government's charities regulator, Investors' Chronicle can reveal. The trust's new investment manager is still working on a return to trading on the London Stock Exchange, even with the business's foundations looking shakier than ever.
The four charity tenants are Big Help Project, Noble Tree, CG Community Council and Dovecot, and Princess Drive Community Association, which account for over a third of Home Reit's rent roll. The rest of the rent roll comes from community interest companies and a social housing provider. The Reit received just 10 per cent of its invoiced rent in January, so its future looks in doubt even if the probes find little.
The regulator has told IC it was "assessing potential concerns relating to the charities CG Community Council and Dovecot and Princess Drive Community Association". Last week, it revealed it was investigating Big Help Project over "concerns around trustee decision making, potential unauthorised trustee benefit and unmanaged conflicts of interest".
Last February, IC revealed the regulator had begun a separate investigation into Noble Tree as a "serious incident".
"Our remit involves looking into potential wrongdoing in charities and governance by trustees. I can confirm we have an ongoing regulatory compliance case into Noble Tree Foundation Limited around the charity’s management and administration," it said at the time.
In November, it confirmed the Noble Tree probe was over "related party transactions, including potential unauthorised trustee benefit and unmanaged conflicts of interest".
A Home Reit spokesperson told Investors' Chronicle: “We note the recent reports citing that the Charity Commission is carrying out investigations into some of the company’s tenants. We are unable to comment on the nature of these investigations, but we note the decision by the regulator to examine the activities of these charities.”
Home Reit's shares have been suspended for over a year and its business model has fallen apart under scrutiny over prices its former investment adviser paid for properties to house vulnerable people, as well as terms of the leases signed by thinly capitalised tenants.
Home Reit's new investment adviser AEW, which replaced ousted adviser Alvarium, said last week the Reit had collected just 10 per cent of its rent due last month, with many of its tenants withholding rent or having collapsed into administration or liquidation.
Its shares have been suspended from the London Stock Exchange since the start of last year due to its failure to publish its results for the year to August 2022. AEW said it will publish both those results and its results for the year to August 2023 in the second quarter of this year. Since becoming its investment adviser, AEW has led a revaluation of Home Reit's properties, finding they were lower quality and worth less than previously stated, and an overhaul of the board.
