The Brexit party’s candidate in the Peterborough byelection has been criticised for profiteering from buying and selling freeholds of hundreds of new homes.

Mike Greene, expected to become the fledgling party’s first MP on Thursday, was for two years an alleged office holder in E&J Ground Rents No4 llp – a firm which bought and sold the rights to charge ground rent across the UK.

Greene’s former business partner in the firm, James Tuttiett, has built one of the biggest property empires in the UK made up of controversial freeholds, allowing him to charge homeowners for the land their house is built on.

Ministers have committed to reforming the practice of buying and selling freeholds after it was criticised by a housing, communities and local government select committee report in March.

Reacting to claims about Greene’s former role, Clive Betts, the chair of the committee, said: “Ordinary people are being ripped off by greedy management companies who exploit them to make an inflated profit. It shows the Brexit party’s true colours as a Thatcherite party with no concern for the people of this country.”

Nigel Farage’s party is the bookmaker’s favourite to take Peterborough, a seat made vacant after the recall of the former Labour whip Fiona Onasanya for lying about a speeding ticket.

Greene, 54, came to national prominence on Channel 4’s The Secret Millionaire in 2011. A former bankrupt, he has been described as a retail tycoon who made a fortune through the 2012 sale of his research firm Him!.

He is registered at Companies House under the name Michael Thomas Greene as a director of 11 trading firms. Under another name, Mike Greene, he is registered as a former director of E&J Ground Rents No4 llp. Examination of signatures on company documents appear to confirm they are the same person.

Greene joined E&J in February 2012 and left in July 2014. Over that period, the company bought and sold hundreds of freeholds, particularly across the north-west of England.

Anna Higham, 42, who lives in a four-bedroom detached house on the Chapelford estate in Warrington, paid £268,995 in 2012 for the new-build property and says she was verbally reassured by the developers that she would be given the first opportunity to buy the freehold.

Shortly after she moved in with her family, the freehold was sold on to E&J, which has recently told her that the freehold is not for sale. She pays £300 annually to the firm but says she receives little in return. The ground rent is due to be reviewed in seven years’ time.

Asked for her opinion of individuals who trade in ground rents, she said: “It is taking advantage of people. We had a plan to be able to own our own home, but it could be that I have been paying off my mortgage for nothing. I am angry that I am in this position.”

Katie Kendrick, the founder of the National Leasehold Campaign, said other leaseholders in Warrington say E&J Ground Rents No4 has snapped up freeholds of new-build properties but refuses to sell them on.

“As a prospective MP, I would like to know why Greene thinks that investing in other people’s homes benefits anyone other than himself. Leaseholding is widely accepted to be a feudal, outdated system,” she said.

Greene, who was on the board of the Association of Convenience Stores, led a takeover of 140 M Local shops in 2015. He was backed by Greybull Capital, the private investment group which has been heavily criticised this week for its role in the collapse of British Steel.

The chain was rebranded as My Local but fell into administration in June 2016, resulting in the closure of 90 stores with more than 1,200 employees laid off.

Research by Guardian Money in 2017 found a web of 85 ground rent companies controlled by Tuttiett, where the freeholds included not just homes but also schools, health clubs and petrol stations.

In 2016, one of these 85 companies recorded an £80m increase in the value of its ground rents from the year before, taking them to £267.4m.

The Brexit party was asked to respond to questions about Greene’s submissions to Companies House as well as claims he decided to profit from the sale of freehold.

A spokesman for Greene insisted that he was a member, not a director, of E&J No4 and was never an active participant in running the investment vehicle.

“The investment was made seven years ago and was disposed of, from memory, to a pension fund five years ago.

“The investment is a recognised product and he participated as such. He never actually owned the freeholds. This was about ground rents, which are seen as a safe investment,” he said.