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5/12/25 4:43 pm
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The Chancellor has been accused of “glaring hypocrisy” by a Leeds landlord impacted by the selective licensing scheme she pushed for in the city.
Rachel Reeves was a key proponent of the East, South & West Leeds scheme covering about 12,500 privately rented homes which councillors green lit earlier this month.
This was despite opposition among landlords being so strong that an initial pilot led to a group of them to launch Leeds Landlords Against Licencing, which sought Judicial Reviews of the council’s decision making, although these were not successful.
They argued that every metric previously used (such as the index for multiple deprivation) illustrated that selective licensing had failed.
Reeves wrote on Facebook recently: “I welcome Leeds City Council’s decision to expand their selective landlord licensing policy to include the Armley area.
"This scheme means private landlords in the area will be required by law to obtain a licence for any residential property they are seeking to let and must meet certain standards to ensure the property is safe and in a decent state of repair.”
Syed Ali was one of the campaigning landlords who tells LandlordZONE that Reeves’ admission to failing to get a selective licence for her own rental property in Dulwich “speaks to a profound double standard”.
She apologised for being unaware she needed a licence, explaining that she applied as soon as she realised. The Prime Minister has said further investigation was not necessary.
“Her defence, that it was an oversight by her letting agent is the exact same excuse that landlords are told is not good enough, that this does not amount to a reasonable excuse,” he says. “We are held to a strict standard of responsibility - it seems that standard is somewhat more flexible in Downing Street.
“We are told such schemes are vital for accountability, yet when their most prominent architect fails the most basic test of that accountability, the consequence appears to be a contrived apology and a rushed application.”
Ali has written to his local MP Hilary Benn (Leeds South) to express his outrage at the "glaring hypocrisy" and believes if a landlord in Leeds had done the same, it would not be so lightly brushed aside.
“This utterly undermines the legitimacy of the scheme and the trust of those who are compelled to follow it.”
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