A resident paid £150 for the clean-up of graffiti at Angela Rayner’s seafront house saying “tax evader” and “bitch”, the Express can reveal. The vandalism appeared on a white white wall outside the former Deputy Prime Minister’s £800,000 seaside property in Hove last month after she admitted she did not pay the right amount of stamp duty when she bought it. It is unclear whether Ms Rayner or a neighbour paid for the clean up.

A Freedom of Information Act Request to Brighton and Hove City Council revealed the fee. The Council said: “The requesting resident was charged a fee at a commercial rate of £150 for the removal, which covered the cost of the works undertaken.” Ms Rayner’s spokesman at the time called the vandalism “totally unjustifiable and beyond the pale” and said it was a matter for the police.

Sussex Police said it was treating the matter as criminal damage.

Across the road from her seafront flat, “Tax evader Rayner” and “Rayner tax avoidance” were written on construction chipboard.

Ms Rayner’s spokesman had said: “This vandalism to residents’ homes is totally unjustifiable and beyond the pale.

“Neither Angela nor her neighbours deserve to be subjected to harassment and intimidation.

“It will rightly be a matter for the police to take action as they deem appropriate.”

The graffiti had been scheduled to be cleared away by workers from the council but they withdrew after complaints from locals about how quickly the clean-up was happening compared to similar vandalism across the city.

The Council said at the time: “Due to security concerns, and in line with our policy of removal of offensive graffiti, we have removed graffiti reported in Hove. This has been paid for by a resident.”

Ms Rayner, the former Housing Secretary, resigned from Government in September after Sir Keir Starmer’s ethics adviser found she had breached the ministerial code over her underpayment of stamp duty on a seaside flat.

Sir Laurie Magnus said the outgoing deputy prime minister had “acted with integrity”, but failed to “heed the caution” contained within legal advice she received when buying the £800,000 property in Hove.

Ms Rayner had referred herself to the standards watchdog for investigation after she admitted she had paid as much as £40,000 less surcharge than she should have done on the purchase in May.

She said she made a mistake based on legal advice she received at the time, before consulting a leading counsel, who found she was liable to pay a higher stamp duty rate, following headlines about her tax affairs.

Labour and Ms Rayner have been contacted for comment.