Angela Rayner’s £800,000 Hove apartment is the latest addition to her burgeoning property empire – which includes a £650,000 four-bed in Greater Manchester and a grace-and-favour pad in Admiralty House.
The large, airy coastal flat is located on the second floor of an elegant Victorian terrace and consists of two flats converted into one. It has its own balcony, sash windows that look out onto the sea and a neatly maintained green.
Pictures inside the property show a smart kitchen featuring marble-style countertops, a generously sized master bedroom and a cosy living area crowned by a small crystal chandelier.
For all its charms, Ms Rayner’s new seaside residence has landed her in hot water amid reports she dodged shelling out £40,000 in stamp duty by declaring it as her main place of residence.
Weeks before buying the property, the Deputy Prime Minister took her name off the deeds of her constituency home in Ashton-under-Lyne – allowing her to pay £40,000 less stamp duty than would have been due if it was her second home, reports the Telegraph.
Brighton and Hove Council have also been notified by the Labour politician that her apartment there is a second home for the purposes of council tax, according to the publication.
This will lead to suggestions the Housing Secretary has arranged her property portfolio in order to save on both stamp duty and council tax – although she has not broken any laws.
Ms Rayner previously refused to publish her ‘personal tax advice’ when she was facing questions over the same of her council house in Stockport. The identity of her tax advisor is not known.
One of Ms Rayner’s new neighbours described her new home as ‘fantastic’.
‘She’s got the biggest and nicest flat in the block and appears to be using it as a holiday home for short breaks because she’s not there very often,’ they said.
‘It’s a fantastic flat that has great views of the sea.’
At just an hour by train from London, the apartment provides Ms Rayner with an alternative base to her grace-and-favour residence in Westminster – where she moved after leaving a rented flat in Vincent Square.
This apartment is located in Admiralty House, a grade I-listed government building near Trafalgar Square and the former home of Sir Winston Churchill.
One of London’s most famous addresses, it was also where another Labour Deputy PM, John ‘Two Jags’ Prescott, conducted secret assignations with his lover Tracey Temple.
The landmark was built in the 18th century and overlooks both Whitehall and Horse Guards Parade. While the building is mainly private, it usually opens to the public during Open House London.
Ms Rayner bought her constituency home Ashton-under-Lyne in 2016 for £375,000, although it is now believed to have risen in value to £650,000.
A detached red-brick with a gable roof, the property is set inside a large front garden, with trees and hedges screening it off from the road.
But neighbours say she is rarely at the property now she juggles her time between London and Hove.
James Lee, who lives next door to Ms Rayner in Ashton-under-Lyne, told the Mail this week that he wanted to catch her at home so he can ask her to do something about the 70ft tree that towers above his garden.
The 82-year-old said he has not spoken to the Deputy Prime Minister for as long as two years.
He said she assured him her beech, copper beech and apple trees had been checked and were ‘safe’ – but took no further action.
Now, the retired engineer said the trees are so tall he has no light in his garden until after 2pm.
Mr Lee accused the Labour politician of ‘running away from her responsibilities’, adding: ‘She’s never here.’
A woman living opposite Ms Rayner added: ‘I can’t remember the last time I saw her.
‘I know she’s in London a lot but to have another new home in Hove is a long way from her roots and the people who elect her.’
As news about Ms Rayner’s tax affairs prompted a backlash today, her allies mounted a staunch defence.
Government minister Stephen Kinnock insisted the Deputy PM had acted ‘fully within the law’.
He told LBC: ‘The Deputy PM has made it absolutely clear she has done absolutely nothing wrong. I do wonder sometimes about some of the newspapers out there just seem to be sort of constantly looking to dig out stories.’
Mr Kinnock also dismissed a suggestion it was an example of ‘do as I say, not as I do’ from Ms Rayner.
‘As far as I can understand it, I’m not absolutely involved in it, of course, in the detailed discussions,’ he told presenter Nick Ferrari.
‘But my understanding from the statement that has come from the Deputy PM’s office is that she has done absolutely nothing wrong. Everything she has done is fully within the law.’
Pressed on whether there was any ‘stink’ to Ms Rayner’s actions, he added: ‘I am very clear, in terms of what the Deputy PM’s office has said, and what Angela is saying clearly is that this is not an issue.’
A spokesman for Ms Rayner said: ‘The Deputy Prime Minister paid the correct duty owed on the purchase, entirely properly and in line with all relevant requirements. Any suggestion otherwise is entirely without basis.’
But property expert Kirstie Allsopp, who presents TV’s Location, Location, Location, posted on social media: ‘This Government have NO shame, they imposed taxes on the rest of us but find ways not to pay them themselves.’
Chancellor Rachel Reeves raised surcharge rates on stamp duty for second home owners last October – an initiative originally introduced by the Conservatives in 2016.
Insiders close to Ms Rayner maintained over the weekend that the politician’s home in the north of England was her ‘primary residence’ for the purposes of council tax.
Such a move would mean the Deputy Prime Minister would dodge paying taxes for her Admiralty House flat in London.
The £2,034 council-tax bill the apartment is currently picked up by the taxpayer because it is listed as her second home.
According to The Telegraph’s report, changes are also being made to the Land Registry on her Ashton-under-Lyne home but these are yet to be disclosed publicly.
Before the Labour minister purchased the flat in Hove in May, an application was reportedly made to alter the ownership on the property.
If second home owners sell their property within a three-year grace period, they can claim back the surcharge.
However, there is no requirement which states Ms Rayner must own the house in Greater Manchester for it to be her main residence.
Her ex-husband Mark Rayner, who she is divorcing, lives in the property with their children.
Ms Rayner’s spokesperson has refused to reveal how much the Cabinet minister had spent on stamp duty for the East Sussex flat, however, they denied she had committed any wrongdoing.
The Mail has contacted Ms Rayner and the Labour Party for comment.
