9:45 AM, 26th August 2025, About 3 months ago 14
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Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy prime minister and housing secretary, has sparked controversy after purchasing a three-bedroom seaside flat in Hove for £800,000.
Newspapers report that the acquisition, made earlier this year, adds to her property portfolio, which already includes a constituency home in Ashton-under-Lyne, valued at £650,000, and access to a grace-and-favour apartment in Westminster’s Admiralty House.
The purchase has drawn sharp criticism from Conservative MPs, who accuse her of hypocrisy given Labour’s recent push to impose higher taxes on second home ownership.
Tory critics, including shadow housing secretary James Cleverly, have raised ‘glaring questions’ about Rayner’s living arrangements, particularly as Labour supports policies like the second-home council tax premium, which doubles the tax on properties not used as primary residences.
This policy, implemented in April, means Rayner’s Hove flat incurs an annual council tax bill of £5,000, which a source close to her confirmed she pays in full.
However, Mr Cleverly questioned whether she has been transparent about paying the same premium on her Admiralty House apartment or if she claims a single-person discount on her constituency home, which could reduce its council tax to £3,682.
Sources close to Rayner defended the purchase and told newspapers that the Hove flat is necessary for her work across several locations, including Westminster, which is more than 50 miles away.
They clarified that the property, bought with a mortgage in May, will not be rented out or used as a holiday let, meaning it is likely to remain empty for at least six months each year. The sources also confirmed that Ms Rayner’s primary residence is her Ashton-under-Lyne home.
This isn’t the first time Ms Rayner’s property purchases have hit the headlines.
She was previously dubbed ‘Two Homes Rayner’ for managing two right-to-buy council properties during her marriage.
Ms Rayner also faced accusations of hypocrisy over her use of the Right-to-Buy scheme, which she later defended proudly.
A recent biography by Lord Ashcroft revealed she made a £48,500 profit selling her former Stockport council house, purchased at a 25% discount in 2007.
The fresh revelations about her Hove flat have reignited Tory demands for clarity on her tax arrangements, with Cleverly saying: “For months, she has dodged correspondence and evaded parliamentary questions. Only now, under pressure, has she been forced to set out part of the picture.”
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Can UK Landlords survive the ongoing tax raid?
Keith Wellburn
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Member Since March 2024 - Comments: 262
10:21 AM, 26th August 2025, About 3 months ago
The claim about needing the Hove flat as a work base for duties in Westminster is laughable – the grace and favour flat in London is three bedrooms just the same!
What I found interesting was a Labour spokesperson defending Rayner whilst attempting to smear Cleverley by saying she, unlike him, ‘had never been a landlord’.
So there we have it – the Animal Farm Champagne Socialists think actually letting out property for others to make their homes in is an activity more socially unacceptable than buying up property to use as an occasional second home. Priceless.
Click to Edit –
The claim about needing the Hove flat as a work base for duties in Westminster is laughable – the grace and favour flat in London is three bedrooms just the same!
What I found interesting was a Labour spokesperson defending Rayner whilst attempting to smear Cleverley by saying she, unlike him, ‘had never been a landlord’.
So there we have it – the Animal Farm Champagne Socialists think actually letting out property for others to make their homes in is an activity more socially unacceptable than buying up property to use as an occasional second home. Priceless.
Keith Wellburn
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Member Since March 2024 - Comments: 262
10:31 AM, 26th August 2025, About 3 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Keith Wellburn at 26/08/2025 – 10:21
What’s wrong with 118 website? I’ve seen a few posts end up like mine above, used the ‘Edit’ facility (the original post had lost the paragraphs I had used so I put them back in) and the post ends up with old and new versions showing.
The Property Man
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Member Since May 2020 - Comments: 15
10:54 AM, 26th August 2025, About 3 months ago
She’s probably bought it to rent to the government to house Illegal immigrants
Stella
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Member Since May 2014 - Comments: 581
12:37 PM, 26th August 2025, About 3 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Keith Wellburn at 26/08/2025 – 10:21
Labour again trying to defend the indefensible.
Just like they did with the Jas Athwal scandal.
Neil Patterson
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Member Since February 2011 - Comments: 3445 - Articles: 286
13:12 PM, 26th August 2025, About 3 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Keith Wellburn at 26/08/2025 – 10:31
Thank you Keith we are working on a fix 🙂
Tim Rogers
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Member Since November 2017 - Comments: 255
15:02 PM, 26th August 2025, About 3 months ago
I do wonder how she will pay for it if/when they are voted out of office and she loses her seat?
Jack Craven
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Member Since July 2013 - Comments: 94
15:14 PM, 26th August 2025, About 3 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Tim Rogers at 26/08/2025 – 15:02
I don’t think it will bother her, she will either rent it out or sell it with a huge profit and then live off the proceeds along with the full MP pension she will get for the rest of her life for being in office for only 5 years ( if she is lucky).
Keith Wellburn
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Member Since March 2024 - Comments: 262
16:41 PM, 26th August 2025, About 3 months ago
I see Angela Rayner posted on X this morning “We’re turning the tide on the housing crisis”.
There are some things that whilst legal, your position in life just rules out.
Just as Ed Miliband can’t run about in a V12 Aston Martin in his down time, Wes Streeting can’t have a platinum BUPA membership and whoever the Education Minister is can’t send their kids to Eton – buying a fancy second home when you are tweeting about a housing crisis is right up there.
Is she actually doing it to embarrass Starmer and take the proverbial out of the electorate?
Sally Robinson
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Member Since February 2024 - Comments: 51
8:07 AM, 27th August 2025, About 3 months ago
T B H if she pays all the taxes and keeps her finances in good order, — unlike some Tory ex chancellors!!! — then it is her right to have a mortgage and second home like anyone else who has the money.
The nonsense about its proximity to London is absurd, and only makes her look silly.
Keith Wellburn
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Member Since March 2024 - Comments: 262
8:35 AM, 27th August 2025, About 3 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Sally Robinson at 27/08/2025 – 08:07
That’s the point though, I’ve had a second home for fifteen years and now pay the double council tax. I get the distinct impression that my right to do that wasn’t at all acceptable to the likes of Rayner when they were running for election last year.
Don’t forget that under the original council tax rules, furnished second homes had a 50% discount – so across all parties over the years the council tax has increased four fold to the current 100% premium, whilst placing no burden on the council to provide any of the costly services (adult social care and children’s services) as the second home owner is entitled to those where they pay main home CT.
If it isn’t now considered socially unacceptable and second home is just a normal aspiration, the elevated council tax charge is just a complete rip off with no real justification.
Earning your salary from legislating to prevent others doing something and then using it to do a full fat version of that behaviour is straight out of Orwell’s Animal Farm.