Labour‘s homelessness minister has been accused of ‘extreme hypocrisy’ after she allegedly threw out her own tenants and then raised rent by £700 a month.
Landlord MP Rushanara Ali told tenants their lease would not be renewed and gave them four months’ notice to get out of the £3,300-a-month property, a renter has claimed.
But just four months after the group’s departure, the four-bedroom townhouse, less than a mile from London‘s Olympic Park, was reportedly back on the market – only this time for £4,000 per month.
A source close to Ms Ali insisted the tenants were offered the chance to stay on a rolling contract prior to the house being put up for sale, after they were told the tenancy would not be renewed.
They added the property was relisted only after Ms Ali did not find a buyer, the i Paper reports.
But Laura Jackson, a self-employed restaurant owner and one of renters in the property, had a different view.
Ms Jackson, 33, claimed she had received an email in November telling her the lease would not be renewed – and that she and the other occupiers had four months to leave.
Only weeks later she saw the property back up for sale at the higher price of £700.
The i said the new tenants confirmed they had moved in ‘four or five months ago’ and were paying the higher figure.
Ms Jackson said: ‘It’s an absolute joke. Trying to get that much money from renters is extortion.’
It comes as Labour’s renters’ Rights Bill, set to become law next year, prohibits landlords from relisting a property with higher rent until at least six months after tenants have moved out – where they have ended a tenancy in order to sell a property.
Ms Ali has also previously spoken out against ‘private renters being exploited’ and insisted her Government will ’empower people to challenge unreasonable rent increases’.
But Conservative shadow Housing Secretary, James Cleverly, said Ms Ali ought to consider her position as the allegations ‘would be an example of the most extreme hypocrisy and she should not have the job as homelessness minister’.
The property had been managed on behalf of the Bethnal Green and Stepney MP by two lettings agencies – Jack Barclay Estates and Avenue Lettings.
At the time the tenants’ contract ended, the firms also attempted to charge the tenants nearly £2,000 for the house to be repainted and £395 for professional cleaning.
Landlords are prohibited from charging tenants for professional cleaning or to repaint a home under the Tenant Fees Act 2019, unless there has been serious damage.
Minor scratches or scuffs to paint work all come under the umbrella of ‘reasonable wear and tear’, according to the Act.
Ms Jackson described the experience as ‘really stressful’ and claimed the property was ‘not clean when [they] moved in’.
But mysteriously, the charges were said to have been dropped when Ms Jackson told the agencies she was aware their landlord was a Labour MP.
She said: ‘If we hadn’t known the charges were unlawful, we would have had to pay them. It’s exploitative.’
Ms Jackson, a Labour voter, added she believed it to be ‘morally wrong’ that MPs can be landlords, in particular in their own areas, and dubbed it a conflict of interest.
It is understood Ms Ali ensured the cleaning and repainting charges were dropped when she was told about them by her agency.
The property is currently listed for sale at £894,995 – more than £300,000 what Ms Ali paid for it in 2014, according to the Land Registry.
It was originally put up for sale at £914,995 last November before the price was reduced in February.
The rental property is one of two owned by Ms Ali, according to the MP’s register of interests.
Ms Ali has served as Labour’s minister for homelessness since the party’s election win in July 2024.
The Government previously said the end of a private rental contract is ‘one of the leading causes of homelessness’.
Ms Ali sung the praises of the Renters Rights’ Bill in March as she said it would ‘tackle the root cause of homelessness’.
Under the bill, which is currently passing through Parliament, landlords may only ask tenants to leave if there has been antisocial behaviour or if they need to sell the property, or if the landlord or a family member needs to move in.
Fixed-term tenancies are also set to be banned under the new legislation.
Ben Twomey, the chief executive of Generation Rent, called the allegations ‘shocking a wake-up call’.
Ms Ali was contacted for comment.
