Answering your questions about the Home REIT Claim

No. We will be acting on a fully contingent basis and will only charge a fee if the claims are successful.  You will be informed about the level of the fee when registering for the claim.  

We will argue that investors have been provided with information about the company which is untrue and misleading and, as a result of which, investors have suffered losses.  The investors who join our claim will be entitled to compensation as a claimant if the claim succeeds.

Home REIT informed investors that their money would be used to help tackle the crisis of homelessness.  It appears, however, that investors’ money was used in a way which was contrary to the company’s stated investment objective and policy, and in a manner which does not contribute to alleviating the homelessness crisis in the way investors believed it would be.  In circumstances of genuine crisis and where the lives and livelihoods of vulnerable individuals are at risk, it is important to hold to account organisations who do not help in the way they say they will, and who fall short in basic standards of corporate governance and good practice. 

Yes. Even though you have not sold your shares, we would argue that you have still suffered a loss as you paid more for your shares than they were actually worth at the point of purchase. 

Yes. You are able to join the claim if you sold your shares and suffered a loss as a result.  

The claims are being pursued under sections 90, 90A and/or other provisions of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 which provide avenues for investor redress.  They also take the form of claims in the torts of negligent misstatement and/or deceit.  

You will be entitled to compensation for losses you have suffered on your investment. At this stage, we cannot provide exact details about how much each investor’s claim is worth. This will depend on a number of factors, including when you purchased your shares, the price you paid, whether you have sold your shares and if you have, the price you sold them for, and it may also turn on other factors such as any finding as to the ‘true’ value of Home REIT’s shares had it not been for any information which is found to have been untrue or misleading.

We will also be entitled to a fee on a successful outcome under the terms of the Damages Based Agreement which we ask claimants to agree to. The level of the fee is set out in the documents which you will review and agree to as part of the registration process.

The proposed defendants are:

• Home REIT and its directors at the time its shares were suspended in 2023;
• Home REIT’s former investment adviser, Alvarium Home REIT Advisors Limited;
• Home REIT’s former AIFM, Alvarium Fund Managers (UK) Limited; and
• the former parent company of the former investment adviser, AlTi RE Limited.

We are currently going through the formal pre-action process.  This is a process parties should go through under the Civil Procedure Rules before commencing court proceedings.  The process starts with the sending of a Letter of Claim to the defendants setting out the basis of the claim, the facts relied on and the remedy being sought.  The defendants are then expected to provide Letters of Response.  

The purpose of the pre-action process is to seek to narrow the issues in dispute and to explore the possibility of Alternative Dispute Resolution (or ‘ADR’) which may result in the settlement of the claims without the need to go through the courts.

If you have joined the claim, you will be entitled to compensation for losses you have suffered on your investment.  At this stage, we cannot provide exact details about how much each investor’s claim is worth.  This will depend on a number of factors, including when you purchased your shares, the price you paid, whether you have sold your shares and if you have, the price you sold them for, and it may also turn on other factors such as any finding as to the ‘true’ value of Home REIT’s shares had it not been for any information which is found to have been untrue or misleading.

We will also be entitled to a fee on a successful outcome under the terms of the Damages Based Agreement which we ask claimants to agree to as part of the registration process.  The level of the fee is set out in the documents which you will review and agree to as part of the registration process. 

If we lose you will not have to pay our fees or pay us back for the costs we have incurred in bringing your claim.

If court proceedings have commenced, then the common position in English litigation is that the losing party pays the costs of the winning party.  Before commencing any court proceedings, we will make sure that we have After the Event or “ATE” insurance in place to protect you if the claim is unsuccessful, but there is a small risk that you may not be covered in full, for example if the insurance fails. The costs for which you will theoretically be liable will be shared with the other claimants, so that in the unlikely event that the insurance fails, your own exposure will be very low.  We will also work with experienced insurance brokers to ensure the insurance is placed with insurers with good credit worthiness, which will further reduce the risk for the claimants. 

If no court proceedings are commenced, there will be no risk that you will have to contribute to the costs of the other side.

Full details of our fees will be provided as part of the registration process. 

Yes.  We will contact you once you have registered about what additional information we will require from you.  It will be important and necessary for you to co-operate in providing us with this information if we are to effectively act for you.

Yes. If you are a retail investor, you can cancel within 14 days of joining the claim without incurring any costs. If you decide to cancel, you will need to notify Harcus Parker in writing – when you sign up you will be provided with a cancellation form that you can use.

Once you have become a claimant, however, should you be outside the 14-day cancellation period outlined above, you will be able be able to withdraw only with the permission of fellow claimants and/or with the permission of the court if court proceedings have been commenced.

Please contact us by email on homereit@harcusparker.co.uk.