The Serious Fraud Office has opened a bribery and fraud investigation into the past management of Home REIT, a UK‑listed social housing company, following coordinated raids and arrests on 14 January 2026. According to the SFO, the suspected offending is valued at roughly £300 million.
Searches were executed at residential addresses in Altrincham, Maidenhead and London, alongside a commercial site in Manchester. The National Crime Agency supported the operation, and Italy’s Guardia di Finanza, assisted by the SFO, searched a property in Venice, indicating an international element to the case.
Home REIT listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2020. As set out by the SFO, the company raised more than £850 million in its first three years to purchase and refurbish properties that would be block‑let to publicly funded charities and Community Interest Companies to house rough sleepers, veterans and people affected by addiction, with rent intended to fund returns to investors.
The SFO noted that an investor report published in November 2022 questioned the valuation of Home REIT’s properties and the ability of tenants to meet rent. Trading in the company’s shares was suspended in January 2023.
Emma Luxton, the SFO’s Director of Operations, said the agency had undertaken a major operation to advance enquiries into suspected bribery and fraud, pointing to the firm’s rapid growth and subsequent collapse. The Solicitor General, Ellie Reeves MP, described the allegations as deeply serious and said both vulnerable people and investors deserve answers, adding her support for the SFO’s work with domestic and international partners.
The case matters for social housing delivery. The model described by the SFO relies on long leases to publicly funded organisations, with rental income central to both service provision and investor returns. Where valuations or rent coverage prove unreliable, organisations providing accommodation can face financial strain, even if the alleged conduct relates to past management.
For investors, the investigation extends a period of uncertainty that began with the November 2022 report and the January 2023 suspension. Until the SFO sets out further findings, there are no charges and no conclusions about wrongdoing, but the case will focus attention on governance, valuation practices and tenant resilience across impact‑focused property vehicles.
The operation underlines the inter‑agency approach to complex economic crime. The SFO worked with the National Crime Agency in the UK and with Italy’s Guardia di Finanza overseas. In investigations of this type, the SFO can exercise statutory powers to compel documents and data, conduct searches and make arrests, before deciding whether to charge.
Next steps will centre on evidence review, interviews and any international cooperation required to obtain material from abroad. Any charging decisions, court applications or asset restraint measures would be announced by the SFO in due course.
Public bodies commissioning supported accommodation, and the charities and Community Interest Companies involved, should continue to assess service continuity and contract compliance in the usual way while the investigation proceeds. The SFO has not alleged wrongdoing by tenants or service providers; its focus, as stated, is on the past management of Home REIT.