Shareholders in Berkeley Group, the property developer, have been advised to vote against the company remuneration report, including the chairman’s pay.

ShareSoc, the body that advises individual shareholders, said the 2011 long-term incentive plan (LTIP) is likely to amount to total payouts of more than £400m and is therefore “excessive”.

The pay of company chairman Tony Pidgley is also targeted. ShareSoc said it is “unnecessarily high” at £21m in 2015/16 and £23m in 2014/15.

“The main reason for the high pay is the excessively generous 2011 LTIP scheme, of which he receives 30% of the total pot,” said a ShareSoc statement.

Cliff Weight, ShareSoc spokesman on remuneration issues, said: “I think the Berkeley remuneration report fails the ShareSoc Remuneration Guidelines test of Clarity and Transparency.

“Rather than giving a balanced report to shareholders, the report reads more like a marketing brochure emphasising the positives and omitting the negatives.

“The key things the annual statement from the chairman of the Rem Com [remuneration committee] fails to mention are firstly the size of the 2011 LTIP total payouts and potential payouts (of over £400 million) that will significantly reduce shareholders’ returns.”

ShareSoc also complains that the remuneration report failed to mention that Pidgley owns £160m worth of shares and has options over five million more, and that he has an annual bonus potential of 300% of his salary.

ShareSoc described the remuneration report as an “unnecessary transfer of wealth from shareholders to management”.

Berkeley’s AGM will be on 6 September.