UK homelessness minister criticised for hiking rent

 Labour’s UK homelessness minister is facing criticism for hiking rent on a property she owns by hundreds of pounds, reportedly just weeks after the previous tenants’ contract ended.

Four tenants who rented a house in East London from Rushanara Ali were sent an email last November saying their lease would not be renewed.

This also gave them four months’ notice to leave, the i newspaper reported.

Ali’s property was then re-listed with a 700-pound (936 dollars) rent increase within weeks, the newspaper said.

A spokesperson for the minister said: “Rushanara takes her responsibilities seriously and complied with all relevant legal requirements.”

The house, rented on a fixed-term contract, was put up for sale while the tenants were living there, and it was only re-listed as a rental because it had not sold, according to the i.

But the minister’s actions are now facing scrutiny from rental rights campaigners, as the government seeks to clamp down on what it sees as unfair rental practices.

The Renters’ Rights Bill includes measures to ban landlords who end a tenancy to sell a property from re-listing it for six months.

The bill, which is nearing its end stages of scrutiny in parliament, will abolish fixed-term tenancies and ensure landlords give four months’ notice if they want to sell their property.

Ben Twomey, chief executive of Generation Rent, described the allegations as “shocking and a wake-up call to the government on the need to push ahead as quickly as possible to improve protections for renters.”

He added: “It is bad enough when any landlord turns out their tenant to hike up the rents, or tries their luck with unfair claims on the deposit.

But the minister responsible for homelessness knew only too well about the harm caused by this behaviour.

“These allegations highlight common practices that the government can eradicate.

“The Renters’ Rights Bill will 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.

“The government is 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.”

Speaking to broadcasters, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper insisted Ali had not breached any rules.

“I don’t know any of the details of this, but I understand that she has followed all of the rules in this case,” Cooper said.

Shadow housing secretary James Cleverly told the i that Ali should consider her position as a minister, as the allegations “would be an example of the most extreme hypocrisy.” 

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