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Labour MP Jas Athwal, the biggest landlord in the House of Commons, has apologised to tenants and vowed to cover the cost of repairs and renewals after black mould and ant infestations were found in some of his rental properties.
Athwal said on Sunday that he was “shocked and sickened” by problems that had come to light, after a BBC report this weekend showed fire alarms hanging off ceilings and a washing machine dumped next to a stairway in some of the flats in east London.
In one block of seven flats owned by Athwal — the new MP for Ilford South and former leader of Redbridge Council — half of the 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 said on the social media platform X, as he apologised to tenants. “I have immediately dismissed the managing agent of my properties.”
“I will be reimbursing every tenant that is out of pocket for repairs or renewals they have had to undertake,” he said, adding that he would be conducting a survey of all tenants “so that all issues are uncovered”.
Athwal was revealed by the Financial Times last month to be the biggest landlord in the Commons with 18 rental properties. The new revelations are awkward for the Labour government, which has repeatedly vowed to get tough on rogue private landlords.
Angela Rayner, housing secretary and deputy prime minister, has said there is “no excuse to let private landlords off the hook” for poor conditions.
Athwal, who previously said he had selected his rental agency for its “quick response times and excellent customer service”, has also been forced to admit that his properties do not have the correct licences under a scheme he introduced as Redbridge leader.
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 added that the government would soon legislate with its “Renters Reform Bill” to “tackle the scourge of bad landlords”.
But 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.
Athwal said in a statement to the BBC that he had believed that licences for all of his properties were up to date.
“I have recently seen an email which shared that licences are due to explore. I am in the process of renewing all licences,” he said.