From Kent Fields to Cayman Waterfront: The Offshore Life of Pentland Homes Boss James Nettlam Tory

When residents in Folkestone, Hawkinge or Ashford argue with Pentland Homes over traffic, contamination or yet another field turning into “executive homes”, the man who ultimately calls many of the shots is not living in Kent at all.

On paper, Pentland Homes (Holdings) Ltd – the parent of the Kent-based housebuilder – is controlled by 52-year-old British national James Nettlam Tory, (pictured) whose country of residence is consistently given as the Cayman Islands in official UK filings.

From a modernist, hurricane-proof mansion at Crystal Harbour, via a Cayman holding company called Island Fox, back to a land bank of nearly 3,000 homes in Kent, the picture that emerges is of a tightly held family group: profitable over the long term, generous to its owners, philanthropic locally – but with an offshore lifestyle and opaque structures that will raise eyebrows among many readers.

This article tries to lay out the good, the bad and the ugly as clearly as possible for a lay reader, based on company accounts and public records on both sides of the Atlantic.

Who Is James Nettlam Tory

Companies House records describe James Nettlam Tory, born February 1973, as a British national, a company director by occupation, with his country of residence recorded as the Cayman Islands on his UK appointments.

He is a long-standing director of:

• Pentland Homes Ltd – the trading housebuilder

• Pentland Homes (Holdings) Ltd – the holding company whose accounts we are examining

• Pentland Properties Ltd – a related property company

Alongside this, he is also a director and majority beneficial owner of Cave Hotels UK Ltd, operator of the Cave Hotel & Golf Resort near Canterbury, with Companies House listing him as holding 75% or more of the shares.

A Cayman-based lifestyle magazine profile of “Serenity House” at Lalique Pointe explicitly names “James Tory” as the owner and designer of the property (see 5.5), describing him using 3D modelling software to design a three-storey, 12,000 sq ft home raised 12ft above sea level to ride out hurricanes. It also notes that this is the fifth house he has “dreamed up and built”. The price for this luxury home; which sits in the world’s most notorious tax haven is, $16m or £12.2m, according to Savills.

Taken together, the UK filings and Cayman coverage identify him as a Kent-born housebuilder and hotelier who has relocated to Grand Cayman while remaining the controlling mind of the Pentland group.

What The Pentland Homes Accounts Show

The group accounts for Pentland Homes (Holdings) Ltd from 2020 to 2025 give a clear picture of a medium-sized, privately-owned developer that has remained asset-rich through a turbulent housing market, but has seen profits lurch sharply and borrowings climb.

Profits, losses and resilience

Over the six financial years to 31 January 2025, the group reported:

• 2019/20 – profit for the year: £2.93m; net assets £32.2m

• 2020/21 – profit: £2.75m; net assets £34.2m

• 2021/22 – profit: £0.79m; net assets £33.8m

• 2022/23 – loss: £1.60m; net assets £31.7m

• 2023/24 – loss: £2.63m; net assets £29.1m

• 2024/25 – profit: £1.77m; net assets £29.8m

In other words, the company moved from steady pre-pandemic profits, through two years of losses as the market turned and planning delays bit, before returning to profit in 2025 – but without yet recovering its 2021 peak in net assets.

The 23/24 strategic report blames:

• Severe planning delays, especially on three major replanned sites

• A weakening housing market, with slower sales and price reductions

Turnover slumped from £61.5m in 2023 to £20.9m in 2024 – a 66% fall – and pre-tax profit swung from a small loss to a loss of £2.84m.

By 24/25 the picture had improved markedly. Turnover rebounded to £33.2m, gross profit rose to £6.75m, and the group reported a pre-tax profit of £1.35m.The strategic report notes that three delayed sites finally started delivering completions, and the company expects a “significant upturn in profitability” in 2026 as more schemes come on stream.

Throughout, the balance sheet has remained robust: shareholders’ funds at around £29–34m and a substantial land bank (stocks/work-in-progress) of around £40–46m, equivalent to roughly 2,800–3,000 units across Pentland and associated companies.

So on the “good” side of the ledger, this is a developer with real assets and staying power, not a flimsy special-purpose vehicle.

Borrowing & Interest

The 24/25 strategic report states bluntly that borrowings increased to £14m, up from £12m in 23/24.Note 25 on financial instruments confirms that while cash fell to £0.73m, debt due within one year rose, leaving the group with a sizeable net debt position.

Interest costs are correspondingly heavy. In 24/25, the group paid £1.17m in bank interest, following £0.87m the year before.

In plain English: even after returning to profit, more than two-thirds of pre-tax profit in 2025 was eaten by interest. Rising debt is partly the price of a growing land bank and more sites under construction – but it also means the business is significantly exposed if sales stall again.

Staff, Directors & Pay

The group employs an average of 38 staff (including directors), with total staff costs of £3.1m in 24/25 (down slightly from £3.4m the previous year).

Within that:

• Directors’ total emoluments were £301,573 in 2025, down from £443,070 in 2024.

• The highest-paid director received £232,727 in 2025, plus pension contributions of £30,493 (up from £332,557 + £19,333 in 2024).

The accounts do not name the highest-paid director, but as controlling shareholder and group figurehead, it is reasonable to assume James Nettlam Tory is closely associated with that role.

Dividends, Who Gets What & When

One of the most politically sensitive questions is how much cash has flowed out of Pentland to its owners while local communities grapple with the consequences of development.

The consolidated statements of changes in equity show dividends as follows:

• 2021 – dividend: £750,000

• 2022 – dividend: £1,164,249

• 2023 – dividend: £500,000

• 2024 – no dividend declared

• 2025 – dividend: £1,000,000

Over these five years the group has therefore paid out a little over £3.4m in dividends to its shareholders – overwhelmingly the Tory family, given their control of the holding company’s share capital.

Two features stand out for a lay reader:

1. Dividends in loss-making years: in 2023 the group reported a £1.6m loss, yet still paid a £500,000 dividend. It is perfectly legal to pay dividends out of accumulated profits, but it inevitably prompts questions about priorities when communities see losses booked locally while cash flows to Cayman-resident owners.

2. Continuing payouts despite high debt: by 2025, with net debt around £14m and interest over £1m a year, the company still chose to distribute £1m to equity holders.

From a pure finance perspective, Pentland is behaving like many privately held developers: smoothing rewards to its owners over time using past profits. But for residents and councillors trying to understand “who benefits”, the answer is clear: substantial cash has been extracted even in lean years.

Ownership Structure & The Cayman Connection

On the UK side, Companies House lists James Nettlam Tory as a person with significant control of Pentland Homes Ltd “by virtue of significant influence or control”, and he holds a large minority share in Pentland Homes (Holdings) Ltd alongside his father, Peter who stepped down as one of the persons of significant control as of 1 February 2025, leaving James at the helm.

On the offshore side, a relatively new Cayman entity has appeared:

• Island Fox, company number OE024995, is registered as an “Overseas Entity” at Companies House.

• It is incorporated in the Cayman Islands as a company limited by shares under Cayman law.

• Its overseas address is given as P.O. Box 10335, Governors Square, 23 Lime Tree Bay Avenue, Grand Cayman, KY1-1003 – a mixed-use commercial development whose online photographs show an ordinary low-rise mall and office complex.

• The UK correspondence address for Island Fox is 10 Market Street, Camana Bay, Grand Cayman KY1-9006, another well-known Cayman office-and-retail district used by many companies. This address – has previously been mentioned in the Paradise Papers

• Public commercial aggregators confirm that James Nettlam Tory is a beneficial owner of Island Fox, recorded as a British national born February 1973, with Cayman residence.

The UK filings do not spell out exactly what assets Island Fox holds, but it appears before the Cayman Central Planning Authority in 2015, where an agenda item lists “ISLAND FOX – Block 17A Parcel 83” alongside “Tory Residence – Block 17A Parcel 228” at Crystal Harbour.

That suggests Island Fox is used as a property-holding vehicle in Crystal Harbour, with the “Tory Residence” – now marketed as Serenity House – as a nearby personal home.

Online images of the Governors Square address show generic commercial buildings rather than a grand private HQ, implying that Island Fox, like countless other Cayman entities, is effectively a letter-box company administered at a service-provider’s office, rather than a staffed business in its own right.

Serenity House: The Fifth Cayman Home

The most visible symbol of James Tory’s Cayman life is Serenity House, 72 Lalique Peninsula Quay, Crystal Harbour – a huge waterfront property currently on the market.

Estate agents, including Forbes Global Properties and local MLS listings, market Serenity House as:

• A 7-bed, 6-bath, 12,600 sq ft modern home

• On a peninsula plot at Crystal Harbour

• Listed for US$16,000,000, which one UK-facing listing translates to around £12.25m at recent exchange rates.

The Real Life Caribbean feature makes several points that matter in a Kent context:

• It names “James Tory” as the owner and describes how he personally designed the house using 3D modelling before working with architect Robert Towell and Core Construction.

• It emphasises his desire to control climate, light and storm risk – raising the slab 12ft above sea level, limiting windows and using deep terraces and overhangs.

• Crucially, it notes that “this is the fifth house he has dreamed up and built”, indicating a pattern of repeat, high-end development in Cayman well beyond a single family home.

Local campaigners and some property write-ups have stated that he and his wife originally bought the 0.71-acre lot for around US$880,000.

This video is as work was progressing for Serinty House

This video shows the completed house

A sales price of US$16m or £12.25m implies a very substantial uplift in headline value if a US$16m sale price was achieved. If correct, it would represent an enormous paper gain on the land alone.

We can say with certainty that Serenity House is no modest villa. Its scale, design and price tag place it firmly at the top of the Cayman residential market – and it stands in stark contrast to the family homes and “affordable” units that Pentland builds in Kent.

As for the other four houses he is said to have built in Cayman, these are not easily identifiable from online planning minutes alone. The Central Planning Authority records clearly link the “Tory Residence” and “Island Fox” to Crystal Harbour, but earlier projects may have used different entities, pre-date the digital archives or simply never needed his name on the public record.

Politics, Philanthropy And The Tory Family Foundation

The Tory family’s public footprint is not simply commercial.

Electoral Commission records show Peter N. Tory – widely understood to be James’s father and Pentland’s long-time chairman – making Conservative Party Donations to the Folkestone & Hythe constituency in the early 2000s, including £1,500 in 2001, £1,500 in 2005 and £2,500 in 2007.

There are no equivalent entries in James Nettlam Tory’s own name in the data available online. Any further donations, if made through companies or other individuals, are not visible in his personal record.

On the charitable side, the Tory Family Foundation is a registered UK charity whose trustees include James, Peter and other family members, along with business associate and golf professional David Johnathan Callister. Local coverage in Kent reports the foundation committing funds to Pilgrims Hospices, including a high-profile pledge linked to a shelved “state-of-the-art” hospice rebuild in Canterbury.

So any fair assessment must record that some of the wealth generated by Pentland and the family’s wider businesses is re-cycled into local health and community causes, even as their offshore lifestyle provokes criticism.

Local Controversy: Land Banking, Contamination & Cayman

Most of the sharper criticism of James Nettlam Tory comes from local campaign blogs and social media, particularly Shepway Vox, rather than from official regulators or mainstream national outlets.

Two themes recur:

1. Land banking and Cayman residence

   • A Shepway Vox piece titled “Land Banking Leads to a Grand Cayman Lifestyle” uses Pentland’s large land bank and James Tory’s Cayman address as a case study of how UK planning and tax policy allows British developers to store up land and gains while personally enjoying low-tax offshore residency.

   • The article is polemical and aimed at the system rather than alleging unlawful conduct by Tory himself, but it reflects a widely held local frustration: developers seem to enjoy the upside of rising land values while residents endure years of uncertainty and disruption.

2. Hawkinge Officers’ Mess contamination

   • Shepway Vox has also reported on Pentland’s redevelopment of the former RAF Officers’ Mess site at Hawkinge, highlighting geo-environmental reports showing elevated arsenic levels and raising concerns about health and wildlife impacts.

   • Again, the criticism is largely about regulatory adequacy and planning decisions, not proven wrongdoing by the company, but it adds to the perception of a powerful developer pushing contentious schemes while its beneficial owner lives in tropical luxury.

It is important to stress that these are commentaries and campaign pieces, not findings by a court or regulator. However, in the court of public opinion they matter a great deal, especially when combined with the offshore picture.

The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

Bringing this together, how should a reasonable resident or councillor read the Pentland / Tory story?

The good

• Financial resilience: The group has remained solvent and asset-rich through severe market shocks, with net assets around £29–34m and a substantial land bank that, if built out, could deliver thousands of homes.

• Return to profit: After two hard years, the 2025 accounts show a decisive return to profitability, with turnover and gross margin both recovering and further improvements forecast.

• Jobs and skills: Around 38 people are directly employed, plus many more in the supply chain, often in areas of East Kent with limited alternative employment.

• Philanthropy: Through the Tory Family Foundation and other channels, the family contributes to hospice and community care in Kent.

The bad

• High and rising debt: Borrowings of around £14m and annual interest over £1m mean the business is heavily geared. If rates stay high or the market dips, that leverage could become a real vulnerability.

• Opaque offshore structure: The use of a Cayman property-holding company (Island Fox) with a post-box at Governors Square adds a layer of opacity. It is legal and common, but it makes it harder for the public to see how gains from UK land and housing are ultimately taxed and enjoyed.

• Dividends in lean years: Paying out £500,000 in dividends in a year of £1.6m losses and continuing to distribute £1m in 2025 while debt is high will strike many as tone-deaf, even if fully lawful.

The ugly

• The optics of Serenity House: A fifth personally-designed Cayman mega-home, now on the market at US$16m, is a powerful symbol of wealth in a low-tax enclave. For Kent residents arguing over 106 agreements, “affordable” thresholds and play areas on new estates, it may come to epitomise the sense that the rewards of development flow offshore while the costs are borne locally.

• Planning and contamination rows: Whether over Hawkinge contamination or other contentious sites, Pentland is now entwined with local grievances about how much risk and nuisance communities are expected to endure in the name of housing delivery.

• Perception of influence: Long-standing Conservative donations by Peter Tory, James’s Cayman residence, and the sheer size of Pentland’s land bank together feed public suspicion – sometimes fair, sometimes not – that planning is tilted in favour of well-connected developers.

What Readers Should Take Away

For all the drama of an offshore lifestyle and a fortress-like mansion in Crystal Harbour, the underlying story is painfully familiar:

• A family-owned developer that has grown rich over decades of building in Kent

• An owner-director who has moved his life to the Cayman Islands while continuing to control and profit from UK projects

• A corporate structure that is legal but makes democratic scrutiny harder

• Local wins and losses – jobs, homes, philanthropy on the one hand; contested sites, environmental worries and a sense of unfairness on the other.

Nothing in the documents examined here proves illegality or tax evasion. What they do show, beyond doubt, is that the cash and the bricks are in very different places. The dividends, salaries and capital gains that flow from Kent’s fields and brownfield sites are helping to sustain a rarefied lifestyle on the far side of the Atlantic, funnelled through Cayman companies and high-end property.

For councillors, campaigners and residents, that is the starting point for a serious debate: when a developer is this embedded in both local land and offshore wealth, what safeguards, transparency and conditions should the public insist on in return?

If you have a story you believe we should investigate, please contact us at: The ShepwayVoxTeam@proton.me – Always discreet. Always confidential

The Shepway Vox Team

Dissent is NOT a Crime