One of Home REIT’s charity clients is withholding more than £860,000 in rent after claiming it has failed to receive promised funds to refurbish its properties.
Noble Tree Foundation is refusing to pay the specialist in housing for the homeless £661,536 due for September, October and November and is planning to hold back almost £202,000 due for December.
The move means that Home REIT can no longer claim it has no rent arrears from any of its clients.
Noble Tree said various monies to refurbish, insure and provide other services for an 80-strong property portfolio housing homeless people in Northampton failed to arrive, despite assurances from Alvarium, Home REIT’s investment adviser.
Under the REIT’s business model, certain funds are supposed to be supplied by the vendor of the property, but Noble Tree said it had been left with a £1.2m shortfall. It said it was withholding rent because Home REIT “won’t talk to us” about the shortfall.
Last year shortseller Viceroy claimed that some of Home REIT’s tenants “do not appear to be paying rent”. Home REIT strongly denied this, saying it had received “100%” of rents.
