The Labour Party’s biggest donor Lord Waheed Alli evicted a young family from his north London townhouse before re-listing the property for over £1,000 a month more in rent, The I Paper reports.
The family of five stayed in the home for four years before being handed a Section 21 “no fault” eviction notice in June.
The five-bedroom Islington home was previously listed for £4,800, before being relisted at £6,000 days later, after which it was lowered to £5,850.
Once the Renters’ Rights Bill passes landlords will only be able to evict a tenant outside of rent arrears or anti-social behaviour, if they want to sell, move into, or move a family member into the property.
If they do evict through the grounds of selling or moving themselves or a family member in, they are not allowed to re-let the property for 12 months after the tenants have moved out.
Ben Twomey, chief executive of Generation Rent, said: “These allegations suggest Lord Alli is trying to squeeze as much profit as possible by exploiting a broken system that his government promised to fix. This behaviour from any landlord is indefensible, but it is especially outrageous when a politician so close to government treats their tenants this way.
“Lord Alli has shown real generosity to his own party as a major donor, yet evicting families to hike rents and using practices that are about to be banned, shows that same generosity doesn’t extend to his tenants.
“The government promised to end no fault evictions as soon as it took office. But, over a year later, we can still be turfed out of our homes on a whim. The government must get its house in order by protecting renters in their homes, pushing on with the Renters’ Rights Bill and preventing landlords like Lord Alli from profiting from misery.”
