Labour homelessness minister Rushanara Ali. Image: UK Parliament
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Homelessness minister Rushanara Ali has resigned from government over allegations she hiked the rent on her property before putting it back on the market after her tenants left.
Ali, who has been homelessness minister since Labour came into power in July 2024, rented out the four-bedroom townhouse near London’s Olympic Park for £3,300 a month in March last year, according to reports in the i.
The tenants were told in November that the lease on their fixed-term tenancy was not being renewed and were given four months’ notice to leave.
It is understood that the property was listed for sale while the tenants were still living there and they were offered a rolling contract to remain beyond the fixed term but they decided to leave.
But just weeks after they left, one tenant saw the property back on the rental market for £4,000 a month.
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Now the Bethnal Green and Stepney MP has tendered her resignation.
In a letter to the prime minister, Ali said: “I wanted to make it clear that at all times I have followed all relevant legal requirements. I believe I took my responsibilities and duties seriously, and the facts demonstrate this.
“However, it is clear that continuing in my role will be a distraction from the ambitious work of the government, I have therefore decided to resign from my ministerial position.”
In response, prime minister Keir Starmer wrote: “Thank you for all you have done to deliver this government’s ambitious agenda.
“Your diligent work at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, including your efforts to put in measures to repeal the Vagrancy Act, will have a significant impact.
“You have also begun the process of delivering landmark reforms including tackling harassment and intimidation in public life and encouraging more people to engage and participate in our democracy. This will leave a lasting legacy.”
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Ali’s replacement is yet to be announced.
Her resignation comes as the Labour government is aiming to boost security for tenants through the Renters’ Rights Bill.
The new legislation, which is set to get royal assent in the autumn, looks to ban fixed-term tenancies and will also limit the circumstances in which landlords can evict tenants. It will axe no-fault evictions which are considered a leading driver of homelessness.
The Renters’ Reform Coalition said, ahead of Ali’s resignation, that a landlord evicting a tenant in order to hike the rent would be illegal under the new bill.
Tom Darling, director at the Renters’ Reform Coalition, said: “This is the right decision. Her position was completely untenable given she was going to be required to defend the government’s legislation outlawing practices she herself had recently engaged in.
“The government must get on now and end no-fault evictions urgently so that no more tenants are subject to the kind of behaviour Rushanara Ali engaged in.”
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Siân Smith, a spokesperson for London Renters Union, told Big Issue that Ali’s position was untenable.
Smith told Big Issue ahead of the minister’s resignation: “Rushanara Ali must step down. Soaring rents are a leading cause of homelessness, and during the worst housing crisis in decades, it is indefensible for the minister for homelessness to be kicking out tenants and hiking rents.”
Acorn’s Anny Cullum also said Ali’s actions “fly in the face of the heart of the Renters’ Rights Bill her government is bringing in”.
“We cannot be expected to trust that Ali is an appropriate person to tackle homelessness in this country when her actions and those of other profiteering landlords are at the heart of our housing crisis, driving homelessness,” said Cullum.
