Skip to main content
MoD lost ‘billions’ selling off soldiers' pads then renting them back

THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE has lost billions of pounds flogging off soldiers’ accommodation that later soared in value, auditors have revealed.

In 1996 the MoD sold off 55,000 married quarters to Annington Property Ltd for £1.66bn and then rented them back from the housing company. The sale made Annington one of the largest private owners of residential property in Britain.

More than 20 years on, the department is still shelling out £178 million a year in rent for 39,000 of those homes it sold off, according to the National Audit Office (NAO) study.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick. Photo: Lucy North/PA
Tory party / 23 April 2025
23 April 2025

Badenoch under pressure to sack shadow justice secretary

Similar stories
The sign for the Ministry of Defence in London
Britain / 17 December 2024
17 December 2024
SITTING PRETTY: (Left to right) Baroness Liddell, Claire Kob
Features / 29 November 2024
29 November 2024
Let’s take a closer look at the sprawling network of former ministers, political insiders and officials who make money from the firms responsible for soldiers’ squalid accommodation, writes SOLOMON HUGHES
EYE OF A STORM: Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke
Features / 22 November 2024
22 November 2024
SOLOMON HUGHES reveals how one of the leading lobbyists for new technology set to hoover up billions in subsidies is already embroiled in a privatisation scandal that has been described as ‘disastrous for taxpayers’
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner speaking at the Labour P
Editorial: / 8 November 2024
8 November 2024