Jeremy Hunt has just delivered the Spring Budget 2024, but his election year offering has been deemed a failure on the housing front.
Although he promised to make housing for young people a priority, finding somewhere to live is not a concern for the 57-year-old former health secretary, who already had a sizeable property portfolio before he joined the Treasury.
Like many MPs, Hunt is also a buy-to-let landlord and owns a group of seven flats in a waterside development in Southampton.
Downing Street
The 17th Century building at 11 Downing Street was first claimed by a chancellor in 1806, when Lord Henry Petty moved in. It became official residence for the post 22 years later.
However, Tony Blair heralded change when he decided to live at Number 11 rather than the smaller traditional prime minister’s home next door. Boris and Carrie Johnson infamously spent an eyewatering sum doing up the apartment, covering the walls in expensive gold wallpaper.
But when Hunt took Number 11 over from Liz Truss after her short tenure, he was disappointed to find that his predecessor had ruined the wallpaper along with the economy.
“The massive disappointment was to discover that that wallpaper – this may be a world exclusive – had started to peel off of its own accord and had actually been painted over by Liz Truss,” Hunt told The Spectator’s parliamentary awards in 2022.
“So I will be saying to my children: scratch over there, there’s gold in them walls.”
Pimlico townhouse
Before he made it to Number 10, the chancellor was regularly photographed leaving the terraced townhouse in Pimlico he bought in 2010 for a shade under £1.7m million.
He was branded “out of touch” in 2022 by the Green party and Liberal democrats for seeking planning permission for a roof extension, although the documents were submitted before he assumed his most recent post.
A heritage design and access statement submitted as part of the application stated: “The owners would like to increase the amount of residential floorspace to make the property functional for a growing family.
Hunt has three children with his wife Lucia.
Surrey bolt-hole
As MP for South-west Surrey, Hunt has one of the shortest commutes to his constituency – but this hasn’t stopped him picking up another home to help out.
His personal website says he divides his time between Westminster and the village of Hambledon, some 40 miles south-west of central London.
In July 2020, Hunt posted a photo of a rural dusk on social media, captioning it as “a sunset near our home in Surrey … a reminder lockdown wasn’t all bad”.
However, just seven months later he was being treated at the Royal Surrey County Hospital after breaking his arm running on icy ground near his Hambledon home.
Back in 2009, when he was a member of the shadow cabinet, Hunt was made to apologise and repay £9,500 after the sleaze watchdog found he’d been claiming second home expenses while letting his constituency agent live in his Surrey home rent-free.
Solent apartments
Hunt and his wife Lucia Geo own seven flats in the waterside Ocean Village development in Southampton through their Mare Pond Properties vehicle.
As health secretary in 2018, Hunt was forced to apologise for a delay in notifying Companies House and the Parliamentary Register of his interest in this company.
The MP blamed “honest administrative mistakes” and Downing Street said the matter was closed.
Although it isn’t known how much Mare Pond paid for the seven high-end apartments, but flats in ocean Village are currently up for sale for between £600,000 and £850,000.
In the Spring Budget 2024, Hunt abolished Multiple Dwelling Relief, which had offered a stamp duty discount for private landlords buying several properties at once.
