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(Alliance News) - Home REIT PLC on Tuesday announced that it is under investigation by the UK Financial Conduct Authority, months after a shareholder first called on the regulator to act.
The London-based real estate company, which focuses on investing in accommodation for homeless people, said it has been notified by the FCA that the investigation has commenced.
Home REIT said the FCA probe will cover the period from September 22, 2020 to January 3, 2023.
"Naturally, the company will cooperate fully with the FCA in its work," the firm added.
Pressure on the regulator to look into Home REIT started in June last year, City A.M. reported.
The outlet had obtained a letter to the FCA from shareholder The Boatman Capital, in which the activist investor called for a probe into claims Home REIT made regarding its rental income and the quality of its properties.
Boatman accused Home REIT of misleading the market with incomplete and inaccurate information, leaving investors "badly burnt". It also said Home REIT was providing "sub-standard" housing, the "opposite of what investors were promised".
At the time, City A.M. said the FCA refused to comment on the matter. This Is Money likewise reported in late August that the regulator was still "keeping quiet".
Previously, in November 2022, short seller Viceroy Research claimed that several of Home REIT's tenant organisations did not appear to be paying any rent, among other allegations which it said cast doubt on the portfolio's financial viability.
The next month, Boatman called for Home REIT's chair and audit chair to be replaced, citing what it described as "governance failures and accounting irregularities".
Shares in Home REIT are currently suspended from trading in London. They last closed at 38.05 pence on January 3, 2023.
By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
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