This tale begins in 1996, when over 57,400 houses that were meant for military service men and women were sold off to Annington Homes for a whopping £1.7 billion. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is now looking to take back 38,000 of these homes.

The properties, sold to billionaire Guy Hands’ firm, will likely be locked in a fierce legal battle as the government tries to undo the deal, two-and-a-half decades later. Terra Firma is the firm that officially holds ownership through a 200-year leaseback deal. Not only this, but the houses were also actually offered up for a discount.

The property value has skyrocketed in the many years since the deal. Meanwhile, the MoD continues to pay over £180 million in annual rent and another £140 million in repairs and upgrades.

Terra Firma has gone on record saying it had no intention of going down without a fight and expected to win the expectedly “very long and very expensive” court case.

In a statement to the House of Commons on Thursday, Minister for Defence Procurement Jeremy Quin explained: “Given our obligations to secure value for money, we have reviewed MoD’s current arrangements with Annington” and that the “department will explore the exercise of its statutory leasehold enfranchisement rights to buy out Annington’s interest in the homes and gain full ownership rights“.

Quin told MPs that the ministry had made a single claim for one house in a test case and planned to submit a further claim for another house in the near future.

He said if the cost of recovering full ownership was less than the present value of the MoD’s ongoing liabilities, “such a transaction is likely to represent good value for money. The MoD would then benefit from any future appreciation in value of the units.“

In a statement, Terra Firma said: “Annington has been aware since mid-December of the MoD’s attempt to enfranchise a single property in Cranwell. This is the first time the MoD has indicated in any forum that it wishes to enfranchise more than one unit. We believe that, regardless of any legal merit, reneging on agreements that had been operating for over 25 years is an appalling thing for the British government to do.

“Our advice is that while this will be a very long and very expensive legal dispute, we will prevail. However, clearly this does put the sale of Annington on hold. This is clearly extremely negative for the investors who include various UK pension funds and sovereign wealth funds representing strategic military allies of Britain.“

What do you think, folks? Will the MoD be able to get these homes back? Will this move help support our soldiers or make no difference?