More than 800 investors are suing London-listed Home REIT for over 120 million pounds, alleging they were misled about the social housing firm's rental income and financial strength. The company also faces a 300 million pound Serious Fraud Office investigation into suspected fraud and bribery after its shares were suspended for three years.
Law firm Harcus Parker said it lodged the £120 million-plus claim at London's High Court on Wednesday, September 30, on behalf of more than 800 current and former shareholders. The defendants include Home REIT itself, its directors, its former investment adviser Alvarium Home REIT Advisors and its former fund manager Alvarium Fund Managers (UK). "Home REIT was presented to investors as offering financial returns while helping to tackle homelessness," said Harcus Parker partner Nate Barber. "Our case is that what investors were told did not reflect the reality."
The investors allege they were misled about the security of the company's rental income, the financial strength of its tenants, its stated social impact and the acquisition, use and valuation of its property portfolio. Barber said regulatory filings were "simply not true": the company said it would lease to housing associations, but there were sweetheart deals with linked entities, properties purchased that were unfit for habitation, and some rented out as holiday lets. "Retail clients and pensioners ought to be able to trust regulatory filings that are being produced by publicly-traded companies," he said. Home REIT said it noted the claim and "cannot comment any further at this stage".
Home REIT floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2020 and raised more than £850 million in three years, promising to buy properties let to publicly funded charities and community groups housing vulnerable people. In November 2022, activist short-seller Viceroy Research raised concerns about its tenants, rental income, property transactions and valuations; the share price plunged from a 123p peak in August 2022 to around 9.5p today. Shares were suspended for 39 months after the company failed to publish accounts by a regulatory deadline, resuming in April 2026. The property portfolio has since been sold, its four wholly-owned subsidiaries are in liquidation, and the company says it is in a managed wind-down.
In parallel, the Serious Fraud Office is investigating suspected fraud and bribery, with suspected offending estimated at £300 million; six people were arrested in Britain and Italy in January, while the Financial Conduct Authority opened its own investigation in 2024. No charges have yet been reported from the SFO investigation, which remains ongoing. Home REIT has said it intends to defend itself vigorously against the shareholder claim — the latest and potentially largest chapter of one of the most bruising scandals in UK listed property.