Readers' forum: Discounted property

I was interested to read in The Times (24 April 2019 page 33) that the chief executive of Taylor Wimpey had decided not to proceed with the purchase from the company of a luxury flat. Apparently he would have been able to buy the property at a discount of £436 000 from the original £2.4m asking price. The paper reports that the High Pay Centre had criticised the deal. Perhaps more interestingly the paper also reported that the firm offers all its staff a 5% discount on purchases of its own property. Further a higher discount is available to employees once in their career. The paper says that this ‘is aimed at helping our younger employees get on the housing ladder’. Apparently executive directors are excluded from this scheme.

It seems that the chief executive has purchased several UK and foreign properties from the company at a...