Rushanara Ali, the homelessness minister who resigned following allegations she evicted tenants from her property then raised the rent, did not break the law or any rules, one of her colleagues has said.
Ms Ali resigned from Government on Thursday after reports that she raised the rent on a property she owns by hundreds of pounds just weeks after the previous tenants’ contract ended.
The move would likely be prohibited under Labour’s Renters’ Rights Bill, which introduces new protections for tenants.
Energy minister Miatta Fahnbulleh said Ms Ali had “not broken any rules or any laws” when asked by Sky News if the allegations about her colleague were a “good look”.
Ms Fahnbulleh added: “She’s chosen to resign, and that is a personal decision for her. What we care about as a Government is that we are levelling the playing field for renters.
“So we absolutely recognise that across the country. I hear stories all the time of people who are not getting a fair deal as a tenant.
“In the end, if you’re a renter, you want security in the thing that is your home and so that is what the Renters’ Rights Bill is trying to do. I think that is absolutely right.”
In her letter to the Prime Minister announcing her resignation, Ms Ali said she did not want to become a “distraction from the ambitious work of the Government”.
She said she had “at all times” followed “all legal requirements” and taken her responsibilities “seriously”.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer thanked Ms Ali for her “diligent work” at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, saying it would have “a lasting impact”.
The resignation follows reports in The i Paper that Ms Ali had given four tenants at a property she owned in east London four months’ notice to leave last November, and then relisted the property with a £700 rent increase within weeks.
Ms Ali’s house, rented on a fixed-term contract, was put up for sale while the tenants were living there, and it was only relisted as a rental because it had not sold, according to The i Paper.
Her former tenant, Laura Jackson, told the paper she was one of four tenants who received an email giving four months notice to leave the property, for which they collectively paid £3,300 in rent.
Ms Jackson, a self-employed restaurant owner, said she saw the house relisted weeks after she and her fellow tenants had left, but with a rent of about £4,000.
Ms Jackson declined to comment further when approached by the PA news agency but confirmed the details of The i Paper’s story.
Under the Renters’ Rights Bill, landlords who evict tenants in order to sell their property would be banned from relisting it for rent for six months.
Kevin Hollinrake, chairman of the Conservative party, described the allegations about Ms Ali as a “classic case of ‘do as I say, not as I do'”.
Mr Hollinrake was among those who called for the minister to resign, something he told GB News he took “no joy” in.
He also told the broadcaster: “But you can’t simply say, well this current situation is not fit for purpose, we need to change it, and then not abide by those changes yourself.”
