Homelessness minister Rushanar Ali has resigned from her post following revelations that she evicted four tenants from her rental property in London but then rented it later for £700 a month more.
While insisting within her resignation letter to Keir Starmer that she had “followed all relevant legal requirements” the junior minister said she believes that “I took my responsibilities and duties seriously, and the facts demonstrate this”.
As reported by LandlordZONE yesterday, although Ali kept to the letter of the law, her recent actions fly in the face of her own party’s looming Renters’ Rights Bill, which will make evicting tenants in this way more difficult, and prevent landlords from re-renting properties after removing tenants, and in particular if the rent is substantially higher.
Ali also says in her resignation letter that: “I am proud to have contributed to the change this government has delivered in the past year".
Her resignation follows cross-party criticisms of her actions from both Labour figures as well as more predictably the shadow housing minister James Cleverley and the SNP.
In her parting comments, Ali says she wants to “thank [the Prime Minister] and the Deputy PM for your support and for giving me the opportunity to serve the British public in this Labour Government”.
Mairi MacRae (pictured), 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.”
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