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by Martin Williams
July 25, 2024
from
OpenDemocracy Website
King Charles'
property empire
has
earned more than £334,000
in housing
benefit in the past four years.
Kirsty Wigglesworth
WPA Pool/Getty
Images
Crown Estate makes record
profits
after issuing evictions,
selling houses
and cashing in on benefits...
The King's property empire has earned more than £334,000 in housing
benefit since the 'pandemic,' openDemocracy can reveal.
The
Crown Estate, a £16bn land and
property portfolio that helps to bankroll King Charles and
the royal palaces, took the money after 14 of its housing tenants
said they needed support covering their rent.
The payments were made between the start of the first lockdown in
2020 and the end of last year.
Housing benefit can be available to
people who are unemployed, on a low income or claiming other
benefits - and is sometimes paid directly to their landlord.
Over the same period, the Crown Estate has slapped eviction
notices or warnings on at least 31 tenants, according to figures
obtained by openDemocracy.
Meanwhile, the royal property empire has been raking in money,
having sold around £11.6m worth of residential properties since 2020
and increased its profits to £1.1bn in the last financial year.
Although it is run independently of the King, the Crown Estate
contributes towards the financial support he gets to discharge his
duties, known as the sovereign grant.
This money is used to cover his staff costs,
official receptions and upkeep of the royal palaces...
The Crown Estate's increased profits over the
last financial year mean the sovereign grant will
rise by 50% in 2025-26 to £132m.
Its chief executive, Dan Labbad, was also
awarded
a pay increase of almost 20% last
year, leaving him with a salary of nearly £1.9m.
Labbad previously
pledged to tackle economic
inequality.
Speaking to openDemocracy, Suzanne Muna from the Social
Housing Action Campaign said,
it was "inconceivable" that the Crown
Estate was allowed to earn money from housing benefits.
"When you follow the money, it really shows the utter obscenity
of our current housing system," she said.
"We constantly hear from landlords and from
government that we have to be prudent, that they can't invest
more in repairs and maintenance, or subsidize the cost of rents
and service charges because they can't fund it without raising
taxes.
In reality, the money is there but it's
going to the wrong people - in this case,
the royal family"...!
She added:
"The new Labour government needs to take a
long, hard look at priorities and make choices that benefit the
greatest number, not a privileged few."
In its latest annual report, the Crown Estate
said:
"Our approach to chief executive pay and
reward seeks to ensure that the crown estate can attract and
retain a world-class leader from a diverse pool of eligible
candidates, with the ability to lead an organization that, in
value terms, would rank in the top 50 companies of the FTSE 100
if it were publicly listed.
"At the same time, it recognizes that some form of remuneration
discount is appropriate in leading an organization that serves
the nation."
The Crown Estate owns huge swathes of land and
property across the UK, including,
-
the whole of Regent Street in London
-
a mass of buildings near the capital's
West End
-
rural sites nationwide...
It is not known how many tenants currently live
in Crown Estate housing, but most of its
residential properties are in West
London.
They include a three-bedroom flat near Buckingham Palace, which was
recently
advertised for £19,067 per month.
But
reports in 2019 said that the
Crown Estate had received more than 100 complaints about its
residential properties in just two years, including grievances about
rent hikes, leaks and faulty electrical goods.
One former tenant, who was evicted from his home in Somerset,
accused the estate of "greed".
He told the Guardian at the time:
"They are custodians and therefore they have
a social duty to the public and their communities."
When approached by openDemocracy, a spokesperson
for the Crown Estate declined to comment...
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