Liberal Democrats Leader In £1m Property Spree

Mar 9 2008 By Charles Lavery And Mark Aitken

Exclusive After He Pockets £50,000 Of Your Taxes

THE leader of the Scottish Lib Dems owns three homes worth s1million - and does not live in any.

Nicol Stephen's property empire includes a s400,000 Edinburgh home that he now rents out after pocketing around s50,000 of taxpayers' cash on it.

Stephen, 47, and his wife Caris Doig, a tax expert and letting agent, also own homes in Carnoustie and Aberdeen.

They bought their house in Edinburgh in 2002 for s193,333. Today, it is worth almost double.

He claimed around s10,000 a year in mortgage interest and council tax from the public purse.

But the MSP has now taken in lodgers for his two-bedroom home in the capital's Morningside just as Holyrood's controversial Edinburgh Allowance Scheme (EAS) is about to be scrapped.

The perk allowed MSPs from constituencies outside Edinburgh to claim mortgage interest payments, council tax, phone bills and utilities on property in Edinburgh.

The EAS has been under fire since the Sunday Mail last year revealed that MSPs raked in millions in profits from it.

An inquiry was established last year and it is expected to rule that the scheme should end by 2011 but MSP home owners will not have to pay anything back.

Most are now rushing to arrange rentals on Edinburgh homes because they are too good an investment to sell and the property market is stagnant.

Stephen moved out of his St Clair Terrace flat in January. He and his wife also bought a third home in Carnoustie, Angus, in November for s107,500.

Their family home in Aberdeen cost s285,000 in 1999 and is now worth at least s450,000.

Stephen refused to answer questions directly but a spokesman said: "He has four children and moved them to Edinburgh for this year. He doesn't want to discuss why.

"It would be accurate to say he wants his family closer to him.

"He has moved out of the St Clair Terrace home because it is not big enough for his family. He is renting elsewhere in the capital and is renting out St Clair Terrace.

"He is keen to stress that the rental income he receives on the St Clair Terrace house is less than the mortgage outgoing."

Stephen stopped claiming his mortgage allowance on the property but he is still claiming a 10 per cent council tax reduction and is the sole occupant according to records. He claims the discount from Edinburgh City Council because of his second rental property.

His spokesman said the rental agreement he had reached was "a private arrangement."

Stephen was previously called to question over a joint mortgage application with his wife on the St Clair Terrace property.

The EAS rules state the MSPs must be the sole applicant on mortgages. He removed his wife's name from the deeds.

'He has moved out of his Edinburgh home..it's not big enough'

Stephen's spokesman

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