Monday, February 18, 2008
“It goes directly to the bank to furnish the mortgage..”
On Saturday, when noting the reported rent claimed from public funds by Ian Paisley Snr and Jnr for their new constituency offices in Ballymena, I asked the question, “Who is paying off the mortgage?” Today, via updates in the NewsLetter, where Ian Paisley Jnr claims the rent claimed will be closer to £56,000 per year, and from David Gordon in the Belfast Telegraph, we have the answer - The public.
Mr Paisley said: “There is no profit for Sarcon from the rental payments. It goes directly to the bank to furnish the mortgage.”
So, does that mean this will be a publicly owned building when that mortgage is paid off? And will the rental claims stop at that point? Or are those stupid questions..
And Ian Paisley Jnr now claims that when Seymour Sweeney resigned as the sole director of Sarcon (No 250) he was replaced by Ian Paisley Jnr’s father-in-law, James Currie.. although the records have yet to be updated.
Ian Paisley Jnr also admits that he was the “prime mover and shaker” in buying the property [corrected quote] - which answers the question of who Seymour Sweeney had been advising on the purchase.
Mr Paisley said: “I have absolutely done this correctly. I did not want to buy the property myself and rent to myself and put my father in an awkward position of renting from me.
“My understanding is that I could have bought it or put it in my wife’s name and she could have charged me. I did not do that.”
David Gordon notes in his report
It is permitted within the Assembly rules to claim rental expenses for constituency offices owned by family members. The House of Commons halted this practice a number of years ago.
Pete Baker @ 10:19 AM
“When did building up equity in a property cease to be considered as profiting?”
It never did.
Recently property investors have been happy to accept rents that were less than mortgage repayments, as the increase in the property’s value more than made up the difference.
It would be interesting to know what each of the Sarcon directors brought to the enterprise, in terms of cash or loan guarantees, and what they expected to get out in profit over time.
Posted by on Feb 18, 2008 @ 10:46 PM
