The Conservative party chair, Kevin Hollinrake, accepted thousands of pounds worth of hospitality from a company that converts family homes into houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) for asylum seekers, official records show.
According to the MPs' register of interests, Living Redefined covered £2,000 worth of flights, hotel accommodation and dinner for Hollinrake and a family member to attend a property conference in the south of France earlier this year. The entry, registered in April 2025, lists the hospitality as support for 'attendance at a conference'.
The company presents itself as a lucrative route for landlords to enter the asylum system accommodation market. On its website, Living Redefined says it has provided the Home Office with 84 properties offering 352 bedspaces across the Midlands and east of England, usually with lease agreements under five years. The firm boasts on Instagram of turning a two-bedroom house in Sleaford, Lincolnshire, into a five-bed HMO, claiming the conversion generated an annual profit of £27,000 equivalent to a 32% return on investment.
The firm describes itself as working 'closely with the Home Office' on accommodation supply. But in response to questions from the Guardian, Living Redefined said it did not hold any Home Office contracts. A spokesperson said the company 'matches landlords with social housing providers to provide homes for social use' and had invited Hollinrake in his then capacity as shadow housing secretary to attend the international property conference MIPIM in Cannes.
Hollinrake, the MP for Thirsk and Malton in North Yorkshire, is responsible for Conservative fundraising, campaigning and relations with activists in his role as Tory party chair. His acceptance of hospitality from this company, in his role as shadow housing secretary, may raise eyebrows given his party's repeated pledges to cut migration numbers.
The Home Office declined to comment on whether it had worked with Living Redefined. Hollinrake has not responded to requests for comment. A Conservative party spokesperson said: 'Labour's utter failure to grip the small boats crisis has turned the housing crisis into a housing catastrophe. As shadow housing secretary and now as chairman Kevin Hollinrake has continued to hold the government to account.'
