The debacle that is the Housing Secretary Angela Rayner’s ‘errors’ over paying stamp duty on her purchase of a flat on the South Coast has not involved buy-to-let property.
But the growing scandal could see Rayner lose her job overseeing the regulation of the housing market and, in particular, the private rented sector – which, given what her Renters’ Rights Bill is about to sweep in for landlords, might lead to some schadenfreude within the landlord community.
While Rayner has denied any wrongdoing, there is mounting pressure for her to resign after some of her explanations for having paid £40,000 less stamp duty than she ought to have begun to look thin.
This includes her original claim earlier this week that she had sought legal advice from several sources including a conveyancer. But the firm that handled her purchase, Kent conveyancing firm Verrico & Associates, has now told The Telegraph that it did not give her any tax advice and paid the £30,000 stamp duty based on the information she gave them.
Her future now hangs by a thread until tomorrow or Monday, when Keir Starmer’s advisor Sir Laurie Magnus is expected to report on whether she has broken the ministerial code after claiming the stamp duty underpayment was down to ‘the legal advice I received’. Starmer has said she will be sacked if the inquiry finds she has broken it.
Any landlord with a reasonable memory will recall that one of Rayner’s own ministers was forced to resign recently for a much lesser offence – as LandlordZONE reported exclusively – after Rushanar Ali evicted her East London tenants, tried to sell the property and after failing to find a buyer, relisted the property at market rent on the advice of her letting agent. None of which is illegal or against any code of practice.
Rayner, whether intentionally or not, has denied her own Treasury some £40,000 in stamp duty but her political usefulness, compared to Ali’s, means she may still dodge having to resign. But that’s looking less likely as some of her excuses for the tax error begin to unwind and the story begins to grow considerable legs.
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