That’s rich! Corbyn’s son rents out his ex-council flat on Airbnb for fat profit
JEREMY CORBYN’S son and adviser is profiting from a former social housing flat he rents out for £150 a night on Airbnb, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Sebastian Corbyn, who works for Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, bought the two-bedroom apartment in East London in 2016 for just £162,500 – significantly below the market rate of other properties in the luxury development. Other two bedroom flats in the same building have been sold for £650,000
Tories blasted him as a hypocrite given Labour’ s stance against housing associations selling off their stock and demanding a tough clampdown on Airbnb.
Despite that position, Mr Corbyn has rented the flat out on at least 47 separate occasions. Some of his tenants have stayed for weeks on end, and Mr Corbyn personally meets new arrivals, sources have told this newspaper.
His mother Claudia Bracchitta, Jeremy Corbyn’s second wife, also helps him maintain the flat.
Sebastian Corbyn boasts his property is a ‘beautiful, newly renovated contemporary flat, perfectly located in the heart of trendy East London... a stone’s throw from all the bars, restaurants and street markets Shoreditch has to offer’.
Renters can enjoy ‘super-fast fibre optic broadband, a 59in HDTV’ and Mr Corbyn’s book collection, including biographies of Tony Blair and Mussolini.
The flat was previously owned by t he Paddington Churches Housing Association – now part of the Notting Hill Genesis group, a major social housing supplier to poorer Londonders. It was sold off on a 125-year leasehold in 2010, and Mr Corbyn purchased it six years later with the help of a mortgage from Santander.
Last night he declined to comment how he was able to get the flat at such a low price, nor address the charge of hypocrisy. But after by The Mail on Sunday’s inquiries, the property was withdrawn from Airbnb’s listings.
John McDonnell has said ‘social housing units being sold off... is scandalous when we have such a severe housing crisis’.
And housing charity Shelter say: ‘The selloffs are fuelling overcrowding and homelessness, and undermining efforts to tackle the housing crisis.’
Labour MP Karen Buck has also attacked Airbnb saying shortterm lets were contributing to housing shortages and called for new laws to combat professional landlords using the service. Jer- emy Corbyn has taken aim at Airbnb in the past, too, calling for such digital platforms to be taken out of private hands and into ‘cooperative ownership’.
He also attacked a lack of affordable housing last year, saying: ‘Luxury flats proliferate across our big cities, while social housing is starved of investment. When housing has become a site of speculation for a wealthy few, leaving the many unable to access a decent, secure home, something has gone seriously wrong.
‘We need to restore the principle that a decent home is a right owed to all, not a privilege for the few. And the only way to deliver on that... is through social housing.’
Conservative vice- chairman James Cleverly branded Sebastian Corbyn a hypocrite. He said: ‘The Labour leadership has condemned affordable homes being sold into the private sector and been critical of sharing economy companies like Airbnb.
‘It looks like rank hypocrisy for Mr Corbyn to be benefiting from an affordable home sell-off and from Airbnb. One rule for them and one rule for everyone else.’