A LABOUR homelessness minister evicted four tenants from her townhouse before upping the monthly rent by £700.
Rushanara Ali threw out the people living at her east London property and later re-listed it for hundreds more, as reported by The i Paper.
According to the news outlet, the Labour MP previously rented the four-bedroom townhouse out for £3,300 a month.
But new tenants were forced to fork out an eye-watering £4,000 a month for the home – a stone’s throw away from Olympic Park.
The landlord MP, who owns two rental properties, is known for her fight against private renters “being exploited” and championed reform against “unreasonable rent increases”.
In fact, Labour’s Renters’ Rights Bill will ban landlords who are trying to sell their property from relisting it for higher rent less than six months after tenants move out.
The new law is expected to come into force next year.
Conservative shadow Housing Secretary, James Cleverly, said the allegations against Ms Ali “would be an example of the most extreme hypocrisy and that she should not have the job as homelessness minister”.
Laura Jackson was one of the four people who rented from Ms Ali.
The self-employed restaurant owner was told in November she had four months to leave.
Ms Jackson, 33, told The i Paper: “It’s an absolute joke. Trying to get that much money from renters is extortion”.
The property was managed on Ali’s behalf by two lettings agencies, Jack Barclay Estates and Avenue Lettings.
They told tenants they’d be charged nearly a staggering £2,400 for the house to be repainted and professionally cleaned.
But landlords are not allowed to charge tenants for professional cleaning under the Tenant Fees Act 2019.
Ms Jackson dubbed the “exploitative” charges “ridiculous and unfair”.
However, they were dropped when the firms were told the landlord was a Labour MP.
It is understood Ms Ali was told of the fees and cancelled them.
Ben Twomey, the chief executive of Generation Rent, said: “These allegations are shocking and a wake-up call to Government on the need to push ahead as quickly as possible to improve protections for renters.
“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.”
A source close to Ms Ali told The i Paper her tenants were told their tenancy would not be renewed.
They were reportedly offered a rolling contract before the house went up for sale.
The townhouse was only relisted for rent after she did not find a buyer, said the insider.
A spokesperson for Ms Ali said: “Rushanara takes her responsibilities seriously and complied with all relevant legal requirements.”
The property is on sale for £894,990, reduced from £914,995 listed last November.
It comes as The Renters’ Reform Bill is expected to come into force next year.
The far-reaching bill will ban Section 21, also known as “no fault” evictions, as well as prevent landlords from increasing rents to deliberately squeeze hard-up renters out of their homes.
The delay to the ban on Section 21 notices, as first reported by The Financial Times, is the first in a string of push backs.
A host of other changes are included in the legislation including ensuring possession grounds are fair to both parties.
This will give tenants more security but also allow landlords to recover their properties “when reasonable”.
Providing stronger protections against backdoor eviction will also be enforced.
This will ensure tenants can appeal above-market rents which are designed to force them out.
A new Private Rented Sector Landlord will be introduced to the Ombudsman, meaning renters can get impartial help if they have a grievance with their landlord.
Tenants are also set to receive strengthened rights to request a pet in the property – a landlord will have to consider this and cannot refuse it unreasonably.
Meanwhile Awaab’s Law is due to be applied to the sector to clear legal expectations about the time frames within which landlords in the private rented sector have to take action to make homes safe where they contain serious hazards.
