Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is unlikely to receive any compensation if he leaves the Royal Lodge at Windsor, according to information published by the Public Accounts Committee.
As part of his lease arrangement, Andrew could have been entitled to £488,000 for the early surrender of his 75-year lease.
But a report by the Crown Estate to MPs on the public spending watchdog said the property is so dilapidated and in need of repair that it is “in all likelihood” Andrew will “pay no compensation”.
Committee chairman Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown says MPs will now launch an inquiry into the Crown Estate and its royal leases.
Sir Geoffrey said the information from the Crown Estate “clearly forms the basis for an investigation” which will begin next year and will consider the property’s leases with the Crown Estate and the royal family.
It is not yet known whether Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor will be called to give evidence.
Information provided by the Crown Estate also revealed that Andrew had handed in his notice on the property on 30 October, the day it was announced that he had lost his title.
He gave a year’s notice, so could stay on for another 10 months, but is expected to move from Royal Lodge to Sandringham in Norfolk early next year.
MPs on the cross-party committee wanted to know details of Andrew’s financial arrangements for the Royal Lodge and whether taxpayers’ interests were appropriately protected.
Andrew took a 75-year lease of the Royal Lodge in 2003, paying more than £8.5m in advance to cover renovation costs and to avoid any need for rent, based on a notional rent of £260,000 per year.
There was also a token “peppercorn” payment, which the Crown Estate notes is standard practice for long leases, where there is an advance payment in lieu of rent.
According to one clause, if he left within 25 years he could get some of his advance payment back, but this was dependent on the maintenance of the property.
The report stated that the current condition of the Royal Lodge “is not consistent with a tenancy of this period”, but the cost of repairing the “dilapidation” meant that any payment was unlikely.
Overall, the terms of the Royal Lodge deal were “fair, reasonable and in line with market practice”, said a letter to MPs from the Crown Estate Commissioners.
The spending watchdog also published information about Forest Lodge, the Prince and Princess of Wales’s new home in Windsor, saying it was taken on a 20-year lease from the Crown Estate.
The couple, who moved in this autumn, are described as paying “open market rent” using levels agreed by independent valuers.
Andrew, 65, had been under pressure to move from his Windsor home for more than a year in what became known as the Royal Lodge siege.
King Charles had cut off financial support for his brother, but Andrew had a private lease which he had previously shown no sign of relinquishing.
But following a growing public outcry about his relationship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Andrew was stripped of his titles as Duke of York and his status as a prince, becoming Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
As part of that announcement in October, Andrew was also to leave the Royal Lodge and move to another residence at Sandringham, the king’s private estate in Norfolk.
Andrew has also faced calls from Democrat members of the US Congress to testify to the committee investigating Epstein’s activities.
Mr Mountbatten-Windsor had not responded to the request by the end of last month’s deadline.
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