A businessman who previously likened his negotiating tactics to that of a “rapist” is in the middle of a deepening crisis at the beleaguered Home REIT.
Christopher Downing, a real estate entrepreneur, sold massive amounts of housing to the landlord for the homeless before falling into chaos after an attack by short-seller Fraser Perring and his Viceroy Research team.
Since its first broadside in November, Home REIT has been beset by a series of interlocking debacles that have seen its shares suspended from the London Stock Exchange.
Questions: Christopher Downing sold Home REIT a large portion of his nearly 2,500 strong real estate portfolio through his social housing group Karla and other entities
It faces legal disputes with several of its tenants, a detailed investigation of its accounts by accountant BDO, and an investigation into allegations of bribery by forensic accountant Alvarez & Marsal and the National Crime Agency.
Downing, 64, Home REIT sold much of its nearly 2,500 strong real estate portfolio through its social housing group Karla and through other entities.
Former associates claim he made tens of millions of pounds selling the properties at high prices, which Downing denies.
The debacle at Home REIT has sparked fears that many of its residents, including ex-servicemen and domestic violence survivors, could move if the group is forced to sell its portfolio amid a collapse in rental income.
But to Downing, the troubles probably seem worlds away, as the businessman has moved to a village on the Venetian Lagoon where Venice is located, where he plans to convert an old glass factory into a luxury hotel.
Profits from his time in real estate have also allowed him to amass a garage of luxury cars, including a white Rolls-Royce and two Bentleys.
His reputation with several former partners, including some Home REIT charity tenants, is notorious, with many accusing him of abusive behavior, bullying and manipulation.
“He’s very good at what he does,” said Matt Fearnley, CEO of Noble Tree, one of the tenant organizations currently in litigation with Downing and Home REIT over allegations that he had breached his contracts to refurbish properties that were used to to house people would break.
In a statement, Downing said “many false and deliberately misleading allegations” had been made against him.
Fortune: Downing’s property deals have allowed him to amass a garage full of luxury cars, including a white Rolls-Royce and two Bentleys
The statement read: ‘The truth is that I am a self-made man and have worked hard to be able to move into a €250,000 one-bedroom apartment in Italy’s Veneto region, an area renowned for its peace and tranquility, which is important to me now that I am recovering from cancer.
“For the past 40 years I have worked in the real estate industry and have been well rewarded, mainly for my work in emerging markets.”
Downing said “like many others” that he had sold properties to Home REIT at local housing benefit rates and that the properties had been “valued by Knight Frank under Home REIT’s instructions.”
He stressed that the company had confirmed that it had conducted “extensive due diligence” prior to the purchase.
“I did everything I could to ensure, by providing grants to all social tenants, that this business would be sustainable,” said Downing, who claimed he had paid £20 million to the tenants “more” than was necessary for renovation work.
But during that 40-year career, Downing also seemed to have developed a reputation for ruthlessness in multiple countries.
According to Karla’s website, he moved to Russia in 1992 shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Downing also spent time in Pakistan, South Africa and Myanmar, saying in an email seen by the Mail that he had seen and done things during his career that made him “a very unpleasant person.”
In the email outlining his negotiating strategy to two potential charity partners, Downing said: “We buy properties, mostly portfolios, we try to steal them and this is what I’m good at… We buy at one price, this is a negotiated price. about how cruel I can be… It can range from fair bid, to brutal, to rapist.”
He added that the profits he and his business partners made went towards supporting an “outrageous lifestyle” and warned those who worked with him to “never screw up, never screw up.”
Some who have worked with Downing have cited examples of his self-admitted brutality in action.
In an email to several Home REIT employees seen by the Mail, a whistleblower claimed that Downing became “angry and verbally abusive” when the head of one of the charities signed leases, described as “financially dependent” on his company and ‘in the early stages of pregnancy’.
Other language of choice used by Downing included calling people “money-seeking lazy idiots” and saying that a female employee at a charity “wasn’t in the mood” unless one of the bosses “wanted the young lady as a friend.”
Downing’s previous business partners included the late Meyrick Cox, a former Goldman Sachs banker and longtime Etonian who attended the exclusive school with Boris Johnson. Cox died of cancer in 2020
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