BREAKING: Homeless minister resigns after controversial eviction and rent hike
Rushanara Ali steps down with a 'heavy heart' saying she followed all relevant legal requirements.
The Labour Housing Minister responsible for homelessness policy has resigned after giving four tenants notice to quit her rental property and then relisting it within weeks for £700 more per month.
Rushanara Ali (pictured), Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Homelessness and Rough Sleeping, previously let the four-bedroom property near Olympic Park for £3,300 a month, but the new tenants are paying £4,000pcm.
The MP for Bethnal Green and Stepney, who has publicly condemned private landlords for exploiting renters and championed her Government’s plans to ’empower people to challenge unreasonable rent increases,’ gave four tenants just four months’ notice in November after saying their lease would not be renewed.
It’s an absolute joke. Trying to get that much money from renters is extortion.”
Laura Jackson, one of the evicted tenants, told the i Paper: “It’s an absolute joke. Trying to get that much money from renters is extortion.”
Following the revelations, the minister has now resigned in a letter to Keir Starmer. Within it she says: “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,
“However, it is clear that continuing in my role will be a distraction from the ambitious work of the government. I have therefore decided to resign from my Minsterial position.
“I am proud to have contributed to the change this government has delivered in the past year.”
Underhand tactics
Mairi MacRae, the director of campaigns and policy at Shelter, says: “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.”
A window into what is going on behind the scenes and in the minds of the ministers running this Government. Doesn’t come as a surprise at all to me at all.
I have been in lettings for a very long time (since 2008) and I can’t even remember a landlord I was dealing with serve a section 21 notice or give tenants notice solely to increase the rent. Yet a housing minister whose government are trying to push through a renters reform bill with many ridiculous components to it like tenants can no longer pay more than one month’s rent in advance and forcing landlords to take pets without adequate protection has showed her greed. What a great example you set, I am embarrassed for you.