The BBC has revealed that the biggest landlord in parliament, Labour MP Jas Athwal, has tenants in some of his 15 properties that are battling mould and ant infestation. He has since thrown his property manager under the bus, who tenants reported threatened them with eviction when they complained. And to top it off, the properties aren’t even on the landlord register – something he introduced as leader of Redbridge council!
People up and down the country will have similar stories to the tenants in Athwal’s properties – but without the extra public scrutiny to shame their landlords into acting.
Keir Starmer’s Labour cannot be relied on to fight for people struggling with sky-high rents, dodgy landlords and unsafe properties – over 40 of his MPs make over £10,000 renting properties they own.
We need a new mass workers’ party – one that will fight for a mass council house building programme and end the housing nightmare.
I’m not sure we do. We need to make it so it’s untenable to own multiple properties and provide an avenue to allow residents to buy their houses. There’s more than enough homes in London to house everyone.
Some people, especially young people, don’t want to own a house, they want to rent.
Edit: fascinated by downvotes. Do downvoters disbelieve that young people don’t want to own a house? Do they just not like the reality of that fact and are shooting the messenger? Are they lashing out against ideas they think shouldn’t be true? One can only guess.
down-votes suck but i wouldn’t get too hung up on it. i got two on my response one was a bot that down-voted any mention of “labour” throughout this community.
I’m sure they like the freedom not so much the price though but if what sabreW4K3 has said were in action renting would still be possible the only difference is cost and who you rent from. renting would be far cheaper. landlords could be abolished and replaced with housing maintenance where they work for the tenants and local area in upkeep.