Is he going to support tenants' rights against his wife's interests?
The housing minister Robert Jenrick, who has been accused of pursuing pro-landlord policies at the expense of tenants, is married to a landlord.
Jenrick’s wife Michal Berkner “is a mergers and acquisitions lawyer and owns a residential property which is rented out”, according to new government data.
Since his appointment in July 2019, Jenrick has been accused of favouring landlords. For example, by opposing Labour’s rent control proposals, by failing to force landlords to allow pets in their rental properties and by only allocating £4m to a fund to tackle bad landlords across the whole of England..
The proportion of landlords in parliament, particularly in the Conservative Party, is much higher than in the country as a whole.
Before the last election, Channel 4 analysis revealed that 28% of Tory MPs were landlords. This compared to 25% of Lib Dem MPs, 11% of Labour MPs and 9% of SNP MPs.
In 2016, 72 landlords were among the MPs who voted against an amendment which would have given private landlords a duty to make their properties “fit for human habitation”.
Jenrick was not included in this because he is not himself a landlord. We only know his wife is because he is a minister and his wife’s interests are declare in ministerial interests. The number of MPs married to landlords is unknown.
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10 Responses to “Housing minister accused of being soft on rogue landlords is married to a landlord himself”
john zims
Patrick Newman
Google rogue landlord list or contact your local council.
Michael McManus
There are plenty of MPs of all parties who are landlords – including some lefties.
Osborne made life harder for all landlords with his finance bill so there’s an opening for Labour to adopt a positive policy while many are trying to sell up.
Councils could offer to take over portfolios, manage the lettings and pay owners an income. Some universities have already done this.
Alternatively, councils could be empowered to buy out landlords (ones with a dozen or more houses say) in a market situation (say more restrictive legislation and tax attacks on the way) for the councils.
Patrick Newman
Mr Zims, I did and I could not find a single landlord – are you taking the piss?
Labour's Filthy Hospitals
Just stopping by to say it’s four weeks since I woke up with a splitting headache and a huge happy grin. The headache’s gone but the grin’s still there.
Lefties and Remoaners, I frolic in your salty tears.
Council housing sell-off scandal continues | Govt Newspeak
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