{{use British English|date=July 2020}} {{use dmy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox company | name = Annington Limited | logo = Annington Homes.png | type = Subsidiary | industry = Real estate | fate = | predecessor = <!-- or: | predecessors = --> | successor = <!-- or: | successors = --> | founded = {{Start date and age|1996|07|29|df=y}} | founder = <!-- or: | founders = --> | defunct = <!-- {{End date|YYYY|MM|DD}} --> | hq_location = London, UK | hq_location_country = | area_served = <!-- or: | areas_served = --> | key_people = {{ubl|Ian Rylatt<br/>(Chief executive officer)|Stephen Leung<br/>(Chief financial officer)}} | products = | owner = <!-- or: | owners = --> | num_employees = | num_employees_year = <!-- Year of num_employees data (if known) --> | parent = Terra Firma Capital Partners | website = {{URL| https://www.annington.co.uk/}} | footnotes = <ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.annington.co.uk/about-us-1/director-profiles|title=Directors Profile|accessdate=14 July 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/08271384|title=Companies House Company Profile|accessdate=14 July 2020}}</ref> }}
'''Annington Homes''' is a provider of privately rented homes in the United Kingdom,<ref name=guardian>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/apr/25/mod-privatise-military-housing-disaster-guy-hands|title=How the MoD’s plan to privatise military housing ended in disaster|work=The Guardian|date=25 April 2017|accessdate=2 December 2018|first=Holly|last=Watt}}</ref> specialising in converting former Ministry of Defence (MoD) housing for the general public since 1996.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7280153.stm|title=Empty MoD homes 'cost millions'|publisher=BBC|date=6 March 2008|accessdate=2 December 2018}}</ref> Since 2012, the company has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Terra Firma Capital Partners.<ref name=guardian/>
==History== In 1996, the MoD sold all its housing for military personnel and their families, 57,400 properties, to Annington Homes for £1.67bn as part of a broader process of privatisation of state assets, making Annington the largest owner of residential property in England and Wales.<ref name=guardian/> Annington Homes had been established earlier that year as a shell company by Nomura Holdings; Nomura's Guy Hands played a central role in the deal.<ref name=guardian/> The MoD lacked funds to maintain the properties, and intended to rent the homes from Annington at a discounted rate, while allowing the company to sell homes the armed forces no longer required.<ref name=guardian/>
In 2012 Nomura sold Annington Homes to Terra Firma for £3.2bn. The rent per house paid by the MoD nearly doubled between 1997 and 2016, and in 2016 the MoD paid dilapidations of £21,809 on average when returning homes to Annington.<ref name=guardian/> As of 2017, around 20,000 of the 57,400 homes had been sold on.<ref name=guardian/> Kevan Jones, who was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Veterans under Gordon Brown, described the MoD's deal with Annington as "an incredibly bad deal for the taxpayer."<ref name=guardian/> Alan West, Baron West of Spithead, the former First Sea Lord, said the armed forces had failed to understand the long-term consequences of the deal at the time it was made.<ref name=guardian/>
In 2022, the MoD announced plans to use the Leasehold Reform Act 1967 to reverse the privatisation deal and return the properties to public ownership.<ref name=kollewe>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jan/27/guy-hands-terra-firma-annington-homes-mod-ministry-defence|title=MoD seeks to buy back 38,000 homes leased from firm run by billionaire|date=27 January 2022|access-date=2 April 2022|work=The Guardian|first=Julia|last=Kollewe}}</ref> Terra Firma said it would challenge the decision in court.<ref name=kollewe/>
In December 2024, Annington agreed to sell 36,347 homes (the Married Quarters Estate) back to the MoD for £5.99 billion, ending the legal dispute. The deal ended a "huge annual rental bill", saving around £230m a year.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kollewe |first1=Julia |title=Billionaire Guy Hands' property firm sells military homes to MoD for £6bn |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/dec/17/guy-hands-property-military-homes-mod-terra-firma |access-date=17 December 2024 |work=The Guardian |date=17 December 2024}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.annington.co.uk/ Annington Homes] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20110928045321/http://www.terrafirma.com/annington-homes.html Terra Firma company entry]
Category:Real estate companies established in 1996 Category:Housing in the United Kingdom
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