Carl Bates, Whanganui MP, is a mega landlord
There were approximate 1294 mega landlords as of 2023, owning 26,000 properties - the equivalent of Rotorua. Plus: Recent events strengthen the Coalition.
25 - That’s the number of undeclared properties (mostly rentals) that National Party MP Carl Bates omitted from the MP interest registry. Many of the properties are rentals in Whanganui, making Bates’ family one of the biggest private landlords in his electorate.
From my article yesterday
MPs must “declare any real property in which they have an interest, including property owned by a trust of which they are a beneficiary”.
But Bates used a grey area/loophole - the same one that dinged Labour’s Michael Wood.
Chris Knox writes of Wood’s case in 2023 -
Wood was the beneficiary of a trust that owned shares…
The Registrar argued that he should have, but also noted that the rules may not make it “clear that members must, under certain circumstances, declare shareholdings held in trust.”
i.e This is a grey area.
Wood was ultimately asked to resign.
The value of Wood’s shares was around $12,000.
Bates owns properties up and down New Zealand, from Auckland to Wellington to Whanganui.
His Epsom Auckland property, for example, was purchased on 9 September 2024. But the wider property portfolio is long standing. As Chris Knox reports, Bates had the shareholdings in two family-owned real estate investment companies with 25 properties when he was elected to Parliament. He was listed a Director with his mother.
He then transferred them to a family trust and listed himself as a beneficiary.
i.e Now he and his family appear to have accumulated more rentals.
As a National MP who votes on laws, Bates significantly benefited from the ~$3bn in tax breaks that Luxon gave people like himself and the first term Whanganui MP.
He benefitted from the 138 state homes Chris Bishop cancelled in Whanganui this year
.
Bates benefits from National changing the brightline test - the same one that Luxon used to good effect - pocketing tax free sales of over $500,000 profit from just two investment property sales last year.
Luxon later sold another property late last year, netting himself more significant tax free gains.
It’s ironic how angry the public and National voters are at Golriz Ghahraman, an action she took after years of intimate, public death threats and mental health pressure - but this type of blatant theft from taxpayers is mostly ignored - millions of dollars worth taken from taxpayers but done “legally” as Chris Bishop would argue because National will always change the laws to benefit mates
Bishop: “I’m getting lobbied hard….There’s people out there that want to use the law”
And themselves.
Bates’ portfolio is very conservatively estimated at $8-$10 million1 - which would mean Wood’s was worth 0.14% of what Bates owns.
Bates is not the only one who tried to hide significant assets in trusts.
David Seymour was revealed as holding multiple properties in trusts after an investigation too, something he claimed he simply “forgot” after years of telling Kiwis he was just another poor renter.
And then we see the ACT Party this year telling Kiwis it’s loosening the rules for selling homes in a trust because, according to gun lobbyist Nicole McKee, rules are hurting “hard working families” with a "burdensome level of document verification and compliance checks".
Note the language they chose.
And ACT’s change means agents no longer need to identify any beneficiaries in the trust and forgo explanations and proof of how the property was paid for.
Why does that feel convenient here, yet again?
The issue really isn’t that MPs hold properties in trusts though.
Every MP is entitled to their financial affairs, but when secrecy ensues and conflicts of interest are so blatantly ignored and disrespected, and the public interest forfeited for a kleptocracy, we know this is a very, very corrupt government at play.
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