This conflict of interest was highlighted again by the Jas Athwal scandal and badly needs to be addressed by Labour
Awaab Ishak was just two years old when he died from respiratory failure in December 2020. Two years later a coroner concluded that Awaab’s tragic death was the result of black mould riddled throughout the Rochdale social housing flat where he lived. After the verdict, and a campaign by his parents with the Manchester Evening News and housing charity Shelter, the then Conservative government passed what came to be known as Awaab’s law. The legislation, introduced in July last year, created a new legal framework that will require social housing landlords to adhere to strict time limits to address dangerous hazards like damp and mould.
This year’s Labour party manifesto committed to expanding the scope of Awaab’s law to include all landlords. It was upon this manifesto that Jas Athwal, now MP for Ilford South and former leader of Redbridge council, stood. In his previous position at the council he introduced a licensing scheme for landlords. In 2018 he tweeted: “Rogue landlords, we are coming for you”. Upon his election in July, Athwal became the biggest landlord in parliament – boasting an empire of 15 residential properties in London, a further property in Bedfordshire and three commercial properties.
But a BBC investigation has now found that some of his flats are infested with ants and riddled with black mould. Tenants claim they have repeatedly reported the issues to the management company, with some tenants told to move somewhere else if they weren’t happy. None of the properties had the licences required by the scheme that Athwal himself brought in. For his part, Athwal released a statement on Sunday morning stating that he was “shocked” by the findings of the investigation and had been “unaware” of the state of the properties and the fact the licences were out of date. He has now said that he will pay for the repair of the properties.
It is, of course, rank hypocrisy for a man who claims to be a “renters champion” to not know about the living conditions of his properties. In his statement, Athwal claimed the “buck stops with me” – before promptly stating that he had fired the management company (which sounds a lot like passing the blame). Athwal’s properties are not social housing and he is not in contravention of Awaab’s law – but his position as a member of parliament for Ilford South is still completely untenable. This deeply troubling scandal, however, spreads much further than one MP – and inevitably leads to wider questions about whether it is appropriate for members of parliament to be landlords at all.
Ben Smoke is a commissioning editor at Huck
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