As campaigning intensifies ahead of England’s critical local elections on May 7, a high-profile dispute over a former council property has upended the mayoral race in London’s Newham borough, placing Labour’s lead candidate Forhad Hussain under increasing scrutiny.
The controversy centers on a one-time council flat that Hussain, then a senior sitting councillor in Newham, purchased in 2016 with financial support from the local authority he served. Last month, a public interest referral was submitted to Newham Council’s monitoring officer, chief executive, and independent external auditors, calling for a formal probe into the transaction. The referral requests investigation into “the acquisition and disposal of a council-derived housing asset by an individual who held elected public office within the authority [Newham] at the relevant time,” a document obtained by Middle East Eye (MEE) confirms.
Hussain has issued a firm denial of any improper conduct in the deal. Correspondence dated April 17 from auditors Ernst & Young to a local resident, also seen by MEE, confirms that the council’s monitoring officer has launched an inquiry into the complaint. The letter notes that after the complainant raised the issue with the council’s interim chief executive, the local authority committed to a full investigation, and the monitoring officer has agreed to update auditors on the probe’s progress.
Earlier reporting from local outlet London Centric pointed out that Land Registry records indicate the property was transferred via a process typically reserved for Right to Buy, a UK government scheme that allows sitting council tenants to purchase their rented homes at significant discounted rates. London Centric also highlighted that the purchase price Hussain paid the council for the publicly owned property in 2016 is not listed on public Land Registry records. Three years after purchasing the flat, Hussain sold it for £255,000.
In an interview with MEE, Hussain pushed back against these claims, rejecting the characterization of the purchase as an improper Right to Buy transaction. He explained the flat was an empty council property offered to eligible buyers through the council’s own Newham New Share shared ownership scheme, a program open to all qualifying Newham residents. “My wife and I were registered for that scheme, expressed interest in the property, and were successful through the same process available to other eligible Newham residents,” he said.
Hussain added that the council independently valued the property at £190,000, and he and his wife paid their agreed share of the full market value, with no negotiation and no discount comparable to those offered through Right to Buy. He clarified that when the couple later paid off the council’s remaining stake in the property, as outlined in the terms of the shared ownership scheme, they did so at the property’s current increased market value. “Any suggestion that I benefited from my position is categorically untrue. I did not receive preferential treatment at any stage,” Hussain said.
The candidate also disputed claims that an investigation is currently active, saying, “I have been informed that no new investigation is taking place, and any previous enquiries into this matter have already been concluded.” Newham Council declined to provide any comment on the dispute when contacted by MEE, and the national Labour Party also did not respond to requests for comment.
The controversy has broken as mayoral campaigning in Newham reaches a fever pitch. During a recent local radio debate, Green Party mayoral candidate Areeq Chowdhury raised questions about the transaction, arguing that “there are serious questions about why that was issued as a Right to Buy. It was an empty flat, apparently an empty flat, issued as a Right to Buy.” Chowdhury confirmed that the council’s monitoring officer has launched an investigation, rejecting Hussain’s claim that the matter is already closed: “the idea that it is a closed matter is false.”
In response, Hussain dismissed the allegations as entirely baseless and accused Chowdhury of engaging in “gutter politics.”
The May 7 elections will see more than 5,000 council seats up for grabs across 136 English local authorities, in what is widely viewed as the first major electoral test for Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government since he took office in July 2024. The Green Party is positioning itself as a left-wing challenger to Labour, and Newham is one of the key target boroughs where the party hopes to seize control of both the council and the mayoralty from Labour. Independent candidate Mehmood Mirza, representing Newham Independents and backed by Jeremy Corbyn’s Your Party, is also contesting the mayoral post.