Home Reit tenant pushed to brink

ONE of the largest tenants of beleaguered homeless housing firm Home Reit is on the brink of collapse as it struggles to secure sign off for government-backed benefits.

Lotus sanctuary, which provides supported housing and accounts for around 12pc of Home Reit’s rental income, has stopped paying the company.

Lotus boss Gurpaal Judge said his firm has ‘substantial debt’ of £2.7m and is suffering from cash flow issues as it struggles to get approval for ‘exempt status’ from local authorities, an email to staff seen by City AM revealed. earlier this month, it was reported that Big Help Group, a Liverpool charity which is Home Reit’s largest tenant, and London-based charity the Noble Tree Foundation are ‘disputing their rental obligations’ and have not made any lease payments for the three months to November 30.

Home Reit was forced to delay its annual results again last week as its auditor requested more time to complete work on the accounts.