Labour’s homelessness minister, Rushanara Ali, is under pressure to step down following allegations that she significantly raised the rent on a property she owns shortly after the previous tenants’ lease ended.
The i newspaper reported that four tenants who were renting a house in East London from Ms Ali received an email last November informing them that their lease would not be renewed and giving them four months’ notice to vacate. According to the report, Ms Ali’s property was then advertised with a £700 increase in rent within weeks of the notice.
Conservative party chairman Kevin Hollinrake has called for the minister’s resignation, labelling her actions as “staggering hypocrisy” given her role and public stance on tenant exploitation. A spokesperson for Ms Ali defended her actions, stating: “Rushanara takes her responsibilities seriously and complied with all relevant legal requirements.”
The i newspaper also noted that the property, which was initially put up for sale during the tenants’ occupancy, was re-listed for rent only because it failed to sell. Mr Hollinrake, a Tory frontbencher, criticised Ms Ali, saying: “I think it shows staggering hypocrisy. Rushanara Ali has been somebody who’s obviously a Government minister in charge of homelessness.”
He added: “She’s spoken out about exploiting tenants, about providing more protections to tenants. You can’t say those things, then do the opposite in practice, as a landlord. She’s got to resign.”
He concluded that while her actions might be “unethical, not illegal”, “we can’t just say one thing and do another”. The minister has come under fire from rental rights advocates as the Government aims to tackle what it perceives as unjust rental practices.
The Renters’ Rights Bill, which is currently in the final stages of scrutiny in Parliament, proposes measures such as prohibiting landlords from re-listing a property for six months if they terminate a tenancy to sell it. The legislation will also put an end to fixed-term tenancies and require landlords to provide a four-month notice period should they wish to sell.
Ben Twomey, head of Generation Rent, labelled the allegations as “shocking and a wake-up call to Government on the need to push ahead as quickly as possible to improve protections for renters”. He continued: “It is bad enough when any landlord turfs out their tenant to hike up the rent, or tries their luck with unfair claims on the deposit, but the minister responsible for homelessness knows only too well about the harm caused by this behaviour. These allegations highlight common practices that the Government can eradicate.”
Twomey further criticised the legislative process, stating: “The Renters’ Rights Bill would ban landlords who evict tenants to sell the property from re-letting it within 12 months, to deter this kind of abuse – but unfortunately members of the House of Lords have voted to reduce this to six months. The Government can also use its review of the deposit protection system to penalise landlords who make exaggerated claims at the end of the tenancy.”
Tom Darling, director at the Renters’ Reform Coalition, said: “It’s mind-boggling that we have a homelessness minister who has just evicted four people in order to rake in more rent – something that will soon be illegal under the Renters’ Rights Bill her own department is bringing through Parliament.”
He added: “The Government are currently considering an amendment to the legislation from the House of Lords which reduces the ban on re-letting after eviction from 12 months to six months. The Government must remove this amendment, and at the very least minister Ali must recuse herself from any discussions on this within Government.”
In response to the controversy, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper defended Ms Ali during a broadcast interview, stating: “I don’t know any of the details of this, but I understand that she has followed all of the rules in this case.”
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