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Labour MP Jas Athwal, the most important landlord within the Home of Commons, has apologised to tenants and vowed to cowl the price of repairs and renewals after black mould and ant infestations have been present in a few of his rental properties.
Athwal mentioned on Sunday that he was “shocked and sickened” by issues that had come to gentle, after a BBC report this weekend confirmed hearth alarms hanging off ceilings and a washer dumped subsequent to a stairway in a number of the flats in east London.
In a single block of seven flats owned by Athwal — the brand new MP for Ilford South and former chief of Redbridge Council — half of the tenants claimed they needed to recurrently clear the ceilings of their loos to take away mould.
One tenant informed the BBC that they’d been threatened with eviction by their letting agent in the event that they complained about issues of their flat.
“I had not been conscious of those points till this week, for which I’m livid,” Athwal mentioned on the social media platform X, as he apologised to tenants. “I’ve instantly dismissed the managing agent of my properties.”
“I can be reimbursing each tenant that’s out of pocket for repairs or renewals they’ve needed to undertake,” he mentioned, including that he could be conducting a survey of all tenants “so that each one points are uncovered”.
Athwal was revealed by the Monetary Instances final month to be the most important landlord within the Commons with 18 rental properties. The brand new revelations are awkward for the Labour authorities, which has repeatedly vowed to get robust on rogue non-public landlords.
Angela Rayner, housing secretary and deputy prime minister, has mentioned there may be “no excuse to let non-public landlords off the hook” for poor circumstances.
Athwal, who beforehand mentioned he had chosen his rental company for its “fast response occasions and glorious customer support”, has additionally been pressured to confess that his properties should not have the proper licences below a scheme he launched as Redbridge chief.
Lucy Powell, a senior cupboard minister, on Sunday mentioned Athwal shouldn’t resign as an MP and that he was taking motion to resolve the issues.
“As I perceive it, he himself is livid as a result of he didn’t know that is occurring in his housing inventory and he takes fast steps to place that proper and that’s completely appropriately,” she informed Sky Information.
Powell added that the federal government would quickly legislate with its “Renters Reform Invoice” to “deal with the scourge of dangerous landlords”.
However Andrew Boff, a Conservative London Meeting member who has visited the flats, referred to as on Redbridge Council to analyze Athwal.
“Right here we’ve a scenario the place anyone who’s the chief of Redbridge Council, which launched a licensing scheme, which he informed everyone else to enroll to, and he didn’t do it himself,” mentioned Boff.
Athwal mentioned in a press release to the BBC that he had believed that licences for all of his properties have been updated.
“I’ve lately seen an e mail which shared that licences are as a result of discover. I’m within the means of renewing all licences,” he mentioned.
