It never fails to amuse me that Britain’s sycophantic royalist media cannot get on board with Prince William’s environmental efforts but they absolutely HATE his homelessness projects. William’s decision to center himself in a palace-produced documentary about homelessness seems to have been the straw that broke the camel’s back. The gloves are finally off. The Daily Mirror is piggybacking on Channel 4 and the Sunday Times’s investigations into the Duchy of Lancaster and Duchy of Cornwall. The Duchy of Cornwall is the vast real estate network which brings in something like $30 million annually for Prince William. A good chunk of those profits come from sh-t like “charging charities, the military and public services exorbitant rental rates.” But some of the money comes from old-fashioned private-home rentals. As it turns out, William is a sleazy slumlord, at least according to an investigation done by the Daily Mirror. You can read the full piece here.
Scores of rental properties owned by Prince William fail to meet the minimum legal energy efficiency standards for landlords, we can reveal. We found some of his tenants are at risk of fuel poverty, living in hard to heat homes that are riddled with damp and black mould. Our investigation with Channel 4 Dispatches has found that as many as one in seven of William’s inherited Duchy of Cornwall’s residential rental properties have the lowest Energy Performance Certificate ratings of F or G.
It comes as the taxpayer is funding a £369m renovation of Buckingham Palace and Prince William launches his campaign against homelessness and for “everyone having a right to a safe and stable home”. One tenant said: “The slick PR will stick in the throat of many tenants. He should start by bringing the homes he already owns up to modern standards.”
The Duchy has more than 600 rental properties and over a 15-month investigation we identified nearly 500 of them. We found 50 Duchy properties rated F and 20 rated G, including six properties with the lowest EPC score of one point out of 100. We spoke to a number of tenants on condition of anonymity who are living in cold, poorly insulated homes, often without central heating and many relying on the most expensive solid fuels for heat. It has been illegal since 2020 for landlords to rent out properties that are rated below an E under the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards regulations without a valid exemption.
Since the new rules, Prince William and the previous Duke of Cornwall King Charles III have between them received £91m in profits from the Duchy. One tenant with no central heating spends hundreds of pounds a month on coal and wood to heat just two rooms in his house. He told us: “It gets miserably cold especially in the winter, you can see through the roof. I can only heat two rooms in my home using a wood burner and a coal fire, and the landlord told me that my rent was going to be put up considerably if they put in radiators. There is mould appearing on soft furnishings and clothes because the air is so cold and damp. To make my property efficient it needs to be insulated but they won’t do that because of the cost. But you don’t want to say anything against your landlord for fear of eviction. There could be consequences.”
Another elderly tenant with no central heating and just one fireplace for warmth was under a blanket when we visited his home in early September. A third told us: “The house is freezing. We were told that it is uninhabitable. When the wind blows the curtains start swinging. There’s no heating upstairs at all. I asked about double glazing and they said Prince Charles doesn’t like it. Well he doesn’t have to live here.” A fourth said: “The house is cold and it is a struggle but there is nowhere else to live here. They are not good landlords.”
Campaigner Jonathan Bean, a spokesperson for Fuel Poverty Action, said: “It’s a disgrace that a billion pound royal estate appears to be acting like a rogue landlord. And getting away with it. King Charles and Prince William have profited from renting out property that fails to meet even basic standards. These low standards cause misery by making heating unaffordable, leading to major health risks from cold and mould. F and G rated homes can cost three times more to heat, which is unaffordable for those on lower incomes. Renters are scared to complain about grim conditions, for fear of being evicted or subjected to rent increases. People are forced to suffer in silence. This royal mess demonstrates the fundamental power imbalance at the heart of this country’s broken housing system. Tenants may have rights in law, but in reality they are at the mercy of their landlords.”
The Mirror points out that landlords can apply for exemptions to the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards regulations, and that the Duchy of Cornwall has applied ten times, usually citing that “the work would cost more than £3,500 to complete.” THAT is what is especially outrageous to me – yes, it’s appalling that William is a slumlord, but he literally inherited this vast real estate network which provides him with $30 million a year or more, and he is too stupid, cheap and lazy to do really basic upkeep on his properties. The homelessness expert and keen environmentalist is a slumlord who traps seniors in freezing, moldy rentals which cost thousands to heat. And instead of just doing adequate eco-friendly updates, William wanders around, calling himself a credible environmentalist.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.