Labour has been urged to suspend an MP forced to apologise for appalling properties he rents out.
Jas Athwal, the biggest landlord in the House of Commons, has pledged to cover the cost of repairs and renewals after black mould and ant infestations were found in some of the rental properties he owns. The MP has also sacked the agency which manages his rental flats
Athwal, the new MP for Ilford South, said on Sunday that he was “shocked and sickened” after being exposed in a BBC report over the weekend that show a string of safety failings, including faulty fire alarms and a washing machine dumped next to a stairway in some of the 18 lats he owns in east London.
In one block of seven flats owned by Athwal, the former leader of Redbridge Council, tenants claimed they had to regularly clean the ceilings of their bathrooms to remove mould.
One tenant told the BBC that they had been threatened with eviction by their letting agent if they complained about problems in their flat.
“I had not been aware of these issues until this week, for which I am furious,” Athwal posted on the social media platform X.
He added that he had “immediately dismissed the managing agent of my properties”, following the unwanted press coverage.
In a statement, Athwal said: “I know it’s my responsibility to have issues addressed as soon as they arise and have met the property management company to understand failures in communication.
“I’m profoundly sorry that tenants have been let down and will be reviewing the property management and how matters are escalated going forward.”
Lucy Powell, a senior cabinet minister, on Sunday said Athwal should not resign as an MP and that he was taking action to resolve the problems.
“As I understand it, he himself is furious because he didn’t know this is happening in his housing stock and he is taking immediate steps to put that right and that is absolutely as it should be,” she told Sky News.
Powell also appeared on LBC yesterday to defend her Labour colleague. She highlighted the fact that the government would soon legislate with its “Renters Reform Bill” to “tackle the scourge of bad landlords”.
LBC presenter Lewis Goodall said: “[Athwal] was literally on the council and introduced a set of standards that all buy-to-let landlords in his council had to obey and he himself did not obey it.
“Now do you not think that is the height of hypocrisy? If this were the Conservative Party you would be slamming this guy, and yet here you are saying ‘it’s not a huge deal, he’s going to compensate them, we’re just going on as normal’.
“Don’t you think it would send a message to buy-to-let landlords who are ripping people off that you the Labour Party do not tolerate standards like this, not least from your own MPs?”
Powell: “I’m certainly not saying it’s OK and I’ve just made absolutely clear we don’t tolerate standards like this.”
The presenter then interrupted the minister to say: “Punish him then.”
But she replied: “Hold on a minute. That’s why we’re legislating with tough measures to tackle these issues, to give tenants those rights, so they don’t have to go to the BBC or anyone else, whether it’s a Labour MP or any other landlord.
“They will have real rights embedded in law … to back that law. It is not absolutely not OK. What I am saying is that this particular person in questions has taken quick action. He was furious about it. I will take him at his word for now, but he has to put that right.”
Andrew Boff, a Conservative London Assembly member who has visited the flats, called on Redbridge Council to investigate Athwal.
“Here we have a situation where somebody who is the leader of Redbridge Council, which introduced a licensing scheme, which he told everybody else to sign up to, and he didn’t do it himself,” said Boff.
