UK homelessness minister Rushanara Ali has resigned after reports emerged that she evicted tenants from her east London property before increasing the rent by almost £700 (€608) a month.
In a letter to British prime minister Keir Starmer, she said that remaining in the role would be “a distraction from the ambitious work” of the government.
“It has been the honour of my life to have played my part in first securing and then serving as part of this Labour government. You have my continued commitment, loyalty and support,” she said.
“Further to recent reporting, I wanted to make it clear that at all times I have followed all relevant legal requirements. I believe I took my responsibilities and duties seriously, and the facts demonstrate this.”
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She said that continuing in her role would be “a distraction from the ambitious work of the government”, and therefore resigned as minister.
On Thursday, it emerged that the four tenants who rented the house owned by Ms Ali were given four months’ notice in an email last November and told their lease would not be renewed because the property was due to be sold.
After the tenants left the property, which they had rented for £3,300 (€3,802), they said it was seen relisted at nearly £4,000 (€4,608) a month, the i Paper said. It reported that the property was relisted for rent after no buyer was found.
Questions were also raised over whether the tenants were offered the option to stay and whether the decision to re-let the property undermined the reasons given for ending their tenancy.
The renters’ rights bill, which is due to come into force next year, will ban landlords who have ended a tenancy to sell a property from relisting it for a higher rent. The bill will also end the use of fixed-term tenancies.
Ms Ali has been widely criticised for apparent hypocrisy. She has spoken out against private renters being exploited and said the Labour government would “empower people to challenge unreasonable rent increases”.
A spokesperson for Ms Ali said on Thursday afternoon: “The tenants stayed for the entirety of their fixed-term contract and were informed they could stay beyond the expiration of the fixed term while the property remained on the market, but this was not taken up and they decided to leave the property”.
They added that the minister “takes her responsibilities seriously and complied with all relevant legal requirements”.
It is understood that after an end-of-tenancy inventory was carried out, the managing agent requested payment from the tenants to cover the costs of repairs. This was not authorised by Ms Ali and was cancelled after she intervened.
Mairi MacRae, the director of campaigns and policy at Shelter, said: “It beggars belief that after months of dither and delay, the government’s own homelessness minister has profited from the underhand tactics the renters’ rights bill is meant to outlaw.
“This story serves as a damning reminder that the cards are fundamentally stacked against renters. Unscrupulous landlords cannot be allowed to continue the practice of ‘fire-and-rehire’ evictions, where they slap renters with a section 21 only to hike up the rent a few months later and relet the property at a higher price.”
Opposition parties and members of Labour’s left wing had called for her to resign.
Conservative party chairman Kevin Hollinrake said: “I think it shows staggering hypocrisy.
“Rushanara Ali has been somebody who’s obviously a government minister in charge of homelessness. 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.”
Peter Wishart, the Scottish National Party’s deputy leader at Westminster, said: “Once this shameful story broke, Labour’s homelessness minister should have immediately resigned. The fact that she still hasn’t means this is now a direct test of Keir Starmer – he needs to sack her immediately”.
Former Young Labour chairwoman Jess Barnard – also on the party’s national executive committee – said: “Seems an appropriate time to reiterate MPs should not be landlords and landlords should not be Labour MPs”.
The house, near Ms Ali’s Bethnal Green and Stepney constituency, is listed for sale at £894,995 (€1,032,000). The property was reportedly put up for sale last November and the price reduced in February. – Guardian
