Homelessness minister resigns over landlord rent hike   – Mortgage Strategy

Homelessness minister Rushanara Ali has resigned after reportedly hiking the rent on a property she owns by hundreds of pounds, which goes against the Renters’ Rights Bill Labour is pushing through Parliament.  

The landlord MP has been accused of “hypocrisy” over the way she handled rent increases on a home with four tenants that she owns in east London.

In Ali’s resignation to Prime Minister Keir Starmer last night, she said that continuing in her role would be “a distraction” from the government. 

She added: “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.” 

Tenants at Ali’s property were sent an email in November giving four month’s notice that the lease would not be renewed as the home would be sold, according to the i Paper, which first broke the story. 

But a month after the tenants moved out of the home, still owned by Ali, it was relisted as a rental, with the rent lifted to £4,000 a month from £3,300. 

The government’s Renters’ Rights Bill, in its final stages in Parliament, will ban landlords who have ended a tenancy to sell a property from relisting it for higher rent until at least six months after tenants have moved out.   

The wide-ranging legislation also proposes to limit rent increases to once a year, moves to end bidding wars, scraps fixed-term tenancies as well as ban Section 21 no-fault evictions.

The Prime Minister, who accepted her resignation, said her “diligent work” at the housing department on vagrancy would “have a significant impact”. 

Shadow housing secretary Sir James Cleverly said: “I said that her actions were total hypocrisy and that she should go if the accusations were shown to be true.” 

A Liberal Democrat spokesperson added: “Rushanara Ali fundamentally misunderstood her role. Her job was to tackle homelessness, not to increase it.”