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UK: Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner has purchased a £700,000 seaside apartment in Hove, which will her third home during her tenure in the role.
Rayner divides her time between a £350,000 home in her constituency near Manchester and her central London “grace-and-favour” flat at Admiralty House in Whitehall, which is supplied as part of her government job.
Critics called on Rayner to answer questions about the properties she owns and where she pays council tax after she purchased the property. Shadow housing secretary James Cleverly said: “Angela Rayner is responsible for housing policy, yet she won’t even be straight about her own. Time and again she’s been asked to declare exactly what properties she owns and where she pays council tax, and time and again she’s dodged those questions,” he told The Mail on Sunday.
A Labour source defended Rayner, saying: “James Cleverly has some brass neck,” a Labour source said. “Unlike him, Angela has never been a landlord or owned a property in London. The second homes premium was introduced by the Tory government while James Cleverly was home secretary, and he supported it at every stage. Angela takes her council tax obligations seriously and she meets them in full.”
From 1 April 2025, UK local authorities in England are able to charge a council tax premium of up to 100 per cent (that is, up to 200 per cent of the normal bill) on second homes.
In the council tax system, a second home is defined as a property that is “occupied periodically”, for which “there is no resident of the dwelling, and the dwelling is substantially furnished”. This definition is provided in new section 11C of the Local Government Finance Act 1992.
Rayner has faced scrutiny over the properties she owns on several occasions, including a row in 2024 that centred on her living arrangements more than a decade ago.
The deputy Labour leader faced claims that she may have broken electoral law and dodged capital gains tax and council tax in relation to the 2015 sale of her council house in Stockport, and questions were raised as to whether she had provided false information about her main address during the 2010s. HM Revenue and Customs said it would take no action against the deputy Labour leader, finding that she owed no capital gains tax for the sale.
Highlights:
• Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner has purchased a £700,000 seaside apartment in Hove, which will her third home during her tenure in the role
• Critics called on Rayner to answer questions about the properties she owns and where she pays council tax after she purchased the property
• Rayner divides her time between a £350,000 home in her constituency near Manchester and her central London “grace-and-favour” flat at Admiralty House in Whitehall, which is supplied as part of her government job
