Labour has become embroiled in another evictions ‘hypocrisy’ scandal after it emerged that party donor Lord Alli recently evicted a family from his rented London townhouse via a Section 21 notice and subsequently relisted the property for £1,000 more a month on Rightmove.

Reports says the five-bedroom house in Islington had been rented for £4,800 a month to a family since 2021 but this June they were then given notice to leave the property.

The property was then advertised to rent at £5,850 a month or 25% more, with a new family moving in during August but paying slightly less at £5,700 a month.

The report highlights that Alli was not involved in the decision to use a Section 21 eviction notice and that the correspondence sent to his former tenants, who have now revealed their saga to the iPaper, was handled by a managing agent.

Doing another

While no laws have been broken by Alli or his agent, Shadow Housing Secretary James Cleverly has said: “This is another example of Labour saying one thing and doing another” going on to say that it was another case of Labour’s ‘housing hypocrisy’.

The MP for Braintree is referring to the recent furore over homelessness minister Rushanara Ali, who similarly evicted tenants and then relisted her home near the Olympic Park in London to rent for £400 more a month.

But in her case she claimed the property had failed to find a buyer and was relisted at the market rate, on the advice of her letting agency.

Alli appears to be in a different position after his managing agent declined his original tenants’ offer to match the new, higher rent to prevent disruption to their childrens’ then looming exams.

Cleverly has said the manner of the eviction is hypocritical because landlords will soon be prevented from relisting their properties (following an eviction) for up to 12 months which, housing minister Matthew Pennycook said only last week, would stop landlords using evictions to subsequently raise rents.

The Renters’ Rights Bill will ban section 21 evictions and only allow landlords to relist their properties for a higher price within six months if the evictions is over anti-social behaviour or rent arrears, and 12 months for other reasons including a landlord moving back in.

Alli, a former investment banker, has donated more than £500,000 to Labour over the past two decades.

Ben Twomey, Chief Executive of Generation Rent, has said: “Lord Alli has shown real generosity to his own party as a major donor, yet evicting families and using practises that are about to be banned shows that same generosity doesn’t extend to his tenants.”

Read the iPaper investigation in full (may require subscription).

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