Minister takes blame for ‘lost’ £1.5m

Saturday 13th October 2007, 12:00AM BST.

HOUSING Minister Terry Le Main has accepted responsibility for a mistake in the Le Squez 1B housing sell-off that could have cost the taxpayer up to £1.5m.

Housing agreed to sell the 27 properties at prices fixed in 2004, but they changed hands only this August because of the time needed for the building work and unexpected drains repairs. In the meantime, the surge in house prices increased the value of the properties. An internal audit and disciplinary investigation has cleared a senior civil servant of responsibility for the mistake, but put the loss at £817,500 – the difference between the house prices in December 2006 and August 2007. But the difference between average house prices between the start of 2005 and the second quarter of this year was £58,000 – and that would put the total difference, including the time for the scheduled work, at £1.5m.

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