Labour homelessness minister Rushanara Ali is facing growing calls to resign after The i Paper revealed that she threw four tenants out of her east London townhouse.
Labour minister told four tenants she was selling the property and gave them notice to leave – only to relist it weeks after they left for nearly £700 more a month in rent.
Despite this all being legal at the time, Ali was nonetheless accused of “staggering hypocrisy” after Labour passed a bill aimed at protecting tenants from landlords keen to re-list properties for higher rent.
The Conservatives, Reform UK, the SNP and renters’ rights campaigners have all called on the minister to step aside.
Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake said: “I think it shows staggering hypocrisy. 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.”
Hollinrake said the conduct appeared to be “unethical, not illegal”, adding: “We can’t just say one thing and do another.” The senior MP said her handling of the situation seemed “extremely unfair”.
Caption: Rushanara Ali, Labour MP for Bethnal Green, at protest in east London (Photo by Jenny Matthews/In Pictures Ltd./Corbis via Getty Images)Calling for Keir Starmer to look into the matter, the Tory chairman added. “I always believe people have a right of reply, of course, but the Prime Minister should investigate. If these facts are as we’ve heard that they are today, then she must resign.”
James Cleverly, the Conservatives’ Shadow Housing Secretary, has also called on Ali to step aside, saying the allegations “would be an example of the most extreme hypocrisy and she should not have the job”.
Peter Wishart, the SNP’s deputy leader at Westminster, said Ali “should have immediately resigned”, adding: “The fact that she still hasn’t means this is now a direct test of Keir Starmer – he needs to sack her immediately.”
Reform UK also called for Ali to quit as minister. MP Sarah Pochin, the party’s MP for Runcorn and Helsby, said: “At first glance, this appears to be yet another case of staggering hypocrisy from the Labour Party. Her position is surely untenable.”
Last March, Ali rented out the four-bedroom townhouse for £3,300 a month. The minister’s former tenants were all young professionals in their 30s.
Tenant Laura Jackson told The i Paper received an email in November giving them four months’ notice to leave. Just weeks after they had left the property, Ms Jackson saw the house had been put back up for rent at nearly £4,000 a month, calling it an “absolute joke”.
A source close to Ali said her tenants’ had been told their tenancy would not be renewed and were offered the chance to stay on a rolling contract before she put the house up for sale. They said the property was only re-listed for rent after she did not find a buyer.
square LABOUR PARTY ExclusiveHomelessness minister threw out her tenants - then increased rent by £700 a month
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Labour’s Renters’ Rights Bill, which will become law next year, will ban landlords who have ended a tenancy in order to sell a property from re-listing it for higher rent until at least six months after tenants have moved out.
The national renters’ union ACORN said: “The minister must resign, and Labour must further strengthen renters’ rights by bringing in rent control to prevent the extortionate exploitation of renters.”
Tom Darling, director of the Renters Reform Coalition, described the fact that the “homelessness minister had effectively evicted four people” as “mind-boggling”.
“Ali’s actions fly in the face of the heart of the Renters’ Rights Bill her government is bringing through,” said Anny Cullum, political officer at ACORN.
ACORN, along with the Renters’ Reform Coalition, is a major stakeholder for the Government as they attempt to meet their pledge to better protect private renters.
“We cannot be expected to trust that Ali is an appropriate person to tackle homelessness in this country when her actions and those of profiteering landlords are at the heart of our housing crisis,” Cullum added.
Darling added: “At the very least, the minister must recuse herself from any discussions on [private renting] within government now.”
Siân Smith of the London Renters Union added: “Rushanara Ali must step down.” She added: “It is indefensible for the minister for homelessness to be kicking out tenants and hiking rents. This is a clear conflict of interest.”
Former Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, also told The i Paper that the case shows that “rent controls and a massive council housebuilding programme” are “the only way to fix the housing crisis”.
Corbyn added: “Tenants in the private rented sector are paying well over half of their take-home pay to keep a roof over their head. An entire generation is locked out of the housing market, falling deeper into debt.”
Andrew Boff, a Conservative London assembly member, said: “The hypocrisy is truly stomach-churning. She should consult her conscience and ask herself whether it’s the right job for her. Does she want to be a property developer or does she want to be a minister?”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has said she believes Labour homelessness minister Rushanara Ali “followed all the rules”, despite hiking the rent after existing tenants exited her property.
Asked about the Ali’s actions, Cooper told Sky News: “I don’t know any of the details of this, but I understand she has followed all the rules in this case.”
A spokesperson for Ali said: “Rushanara takes her responsibilities seriously and complied with all relevant legal requirements.”
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government was contacted for comment.
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