Overview

• Reports say Angela Rayner removed her name from the Ashton-under-Lyne house deeds weeks before buying an £800,000 Hove flat and declared the Hove property her main home for stamp duty, reducing the bill to about £30,000 from £70,000.
• For council tax, she is reported to have told Tameside that her Ashton-under-Lyne address is her primary residence and Brighton & Hove that the Hove flat is a second home, while her Admiralty House apartment is treated as a second home with its bill covered by the state under convention.
• HM Land Registry records show applications pending to vary the title of the Ashton-under-Lyne property, understood to have been lodged before the May purchase of the Hove flat.
• The Conservative Party has begun a legal process to remove her from the Ashton-under-Lyne electoral roll, alleging she does not meet residency tests for that registration.
• Rayner’s office says she paid the correct duty and complied with all requirements, allies say she pays the Hove second-home council tax premium, and critics accuse her of hypocrisy as minister Stephen Kinnock maintains she acted within the law.