Magenta Living should lose its charitable status and be the suject of an inquiry.

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Charity Commission for England and Wales should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Dear Charity Commission for England and Wales,
'Magenta Living' is not a genuine CHARITY.
Magenta Living (in the UK) claims to be a charity.
Charities pay ZERO % tax. They pay no tax.
It claims that its activities are:
"To provide social housing to those who are unable to meet their own housing costs in the open market".
Magenta Living claims to operate in Chester West and Chester, and in the Wirral.
On the Charities Commission for England and Wales website, a search for Magenta Living locates 'Wirral Partnership Homes Limited' (WPH.....another operating name for Magenta Living), with the registered number: 1106969.
The accounts shown for 31 March 2016 (received 26 Jan 2017) show an income of £62,963,000 and expenditure of £52,054,000. Retained for future use: £10.91 million.
WPH/Magenta Living has declared to the Charities Commission of England and Wales that, in 2016, its spent £47.27 million on "charitable activities". No evidence is provided of such activities.
Own use assets are recorded as £177.61 million.
Other assets: £20.7 million.
Since 2005 WPH or Magenta Living has paid its CEO £130,000 per annum.
In February 2005 13,100 rented houses, flats and bedsits were transferred from Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council (the Council) to Wirral Partnership Homes (a registered charity), apparently for the nominal sum of just one British pound
The Council claims to have no record of how many Council tenants voted for the housing stock to transfer to WPH.
At that time approximately £100 million of Council debt was written off by the UK government.
The 31 March 2010 WPH accounts show (page 44) that WPH had "cash at bank and in hand: £26,051,000". That equated to £100,000 per week for the first five years of the existence of WPH.
Rents have exploded under the management of WPH/Magenta Living. In 2011 rents on flats were typically £110 per month. In 2017 they are typically £550 per month.
At the end of 2016, WPH/Magenta Living worked through a surrogate organisation (Starfish Commercial, from Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England) to propose the demolition of 22 retirement flats in West Kirby (UK), previously rented out at very reasonable levels, and their replacement with 14 houses, to be rented or mortgaged at extremely high rents or mortgages.
I call on the Charities Commission of England and Wales to revoke the charitable status of Magenta Living, also known as Wirral Partnership Homes (WPH) and for the Charities Commission of England and Wales to conduct an inquiry to take place into the shocking mismanagement of this company. I would welcome the opportunity to submit evidence to such an inquiry.

Yours faithfully,

Alan Rundle

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Becky Bbear left an annotation ()

Alan:

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 only provides for the release of recorded information held by Authorities, not for complaints, general correspondence or calls for action by an Authority.

As an FOI request yours will fail and be refused, as a complaint against the charity it should be sent to the Commission through its general email address - fcemailteam@charitycommission.gsi.gov.uk.

Fair warning, very likely as a complaint it will also fail - because the Commission can only act against a charity or its trustees where they have acted outside their powers, which from the content of your post this one hasn't.

Charities are able to pay 'market rate' salaries when employing staff, in the case of Housing Association type charities they are able to sell/re-purpose housing stock at their discretion as they feel needs change, able to set whatever rents they consider reasonable or necessary based on their operating costs and generally manage their business as they see fit just like any commercial housing provider.

Some decisions by charities are unpopular, but still within the powers of trustees - meaning the Commission has no authority to challenge a decision just because it is unpopular.

In addition, the Commission will not become involved in anything to do with Landlord/Tenant disputes or arguments - it's just not part of its role.

You may want to think about making your complaint to the Local Authority Rent Officer, or if you are a Member of the Housing Association raising your concerns at its next General Meeting and calling for a vote on the issues/concerns among those present.

Good luck, but don't expect any kind of inquiry or intervention by the Commission..

Becky