Britain’s homelessness minister increased the rent on a house she owns by hundreds of pounds, allegedly “within weeks” of the previous tenants’ contract ending.The i Paper reported that four tenants who rented a house owned by Rushanara Ali in East London were sent an email last November giving them four months’ notice that their lease would not be renewed.It says the property was re-listed shortly after the tenants moved out, at a rent that was £700 a month higher.Ali is Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Homelessness and Rough Sleeping. A spokesman said: “Rushanara takes her responsibilities seriously and complied with all relevant legal requirements.”A source close to the homelessness minister said it had been a fixed-term contract and that the house had been put up for sale while the tenants were there. They said the tenants had been told they could stay on a rolling basis while the house was on the market, but they had chosen to go.The i Paper said it had also been told the house was only re-listed as a rental because it had not sold.The property in question was put on the market in November 2024 with an asking price of £914,995 but was reduced in February by £20,000.Ben Twomey, chief executive of campaign group Generation Rent, said: “These allegations are shocking and a wake-up call to government on the need to push ahead as quickly as possible to improve protections for renters. “It is bad enough when any landlord turfs out their tenant to hike up the rent, or tries their luck with unfair claims on the deposit, but the minister resp …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnBritain’s homelessness minister increased the rent on a house she owns by hundreds of pounds, allegedly “within weeks” of the previous tenants’ contract ending.The i Paper reported that four tenants who rented a house owned by Rushanara Ali in East London were sent an email last November giving them four months’ notice that their lease would not be renewed.It says the property was re-listed shortly after the tenants moved out, at a rent that was £700 a month higher.Ali is Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Homelessness and Rough Sleeping. A spokesman said: “Rushanara takes her responsibilities seriously and complied with all relevant legal requirements.”A source close to the homelessness minister said it had been a fixed-term contract and that the house had been put up for sale while the tenants were there. They said the tenants had been told they could stay on a rolling basis while the house was on the market, but they had chosen to go.The i Paper said it had also been told the house was only re-listed as a rental because it had not sold.The property in question was put on the market in November 2024 with an asking price of £914,995 but was reduced in February by £20,000.Ben Twomey, chief executive of campaign group Generation Rent, said: “These allegations are shocking and a wake-up call to government on the need to push ahead as quickly as possible to improve protections for renters. “It is bad enough when any landlord turfs out their tenant to hike up the rent, or tries their luck with unfair claims on the deposit, but the minister resp …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
