Five new housing ministers have been tasked with helping the government deliver homes and reform the PRS – and one of them is a landlord.

Freshly appointed Rushanara Ali, re-elected in Bethnal Green and Stepney, declared earnings of more than £10,000 a year from her two residential properties in the capital, according to research by 38 Degrees, which should mean she has first-hand knowledge of the challenges facing private landlords.

The newly named Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government - headed up by Housing Secretary Angela Rayner and key housing minister Matthew Pennycook – will also have Jim McMahon, a former shadow housing minister, and MP for Oldham West, Chadderton and Royston, as fellow Minister of State, alongside Alex Norris, MP for Nottingham North and Kimberley, who becomes a junior minister.

Very vocal

They will be joined by two peers: Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (pictured right), who was very vocal in the Lords over the government’s moves to water down the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill, and Lord Khan of Burnley.

Explaining to his X/Twitter followers that housing is a “long standing passion”, Lord Khan spoke out during a Lords debate on the Renters’ Reform Bill earlier this year. The then shadow housing spokesman pointed out that millions of children in the private rented sector were living with damp, mould or excessively cold temperatures, and asked what the government planned to do to tackle poor conditions for PRS tenants.

Playing field

He told peers: “Much more needs to be done to decisively level the playing field between landlords and tenants, and a Labour Government will seek to truly strengthen protections for private renters, so that they finally get the long-term security and better rights and conditions that they deserve.”

Landlords will at least be hoping that these appointments will mark the end of a relentless churn of ministers that has plagued the department for more than a decade, creating uncertainty and instability in the sector. It comes as 50 Tory MPs with residential rental properties either lost their seat in the election or had previously stepped down.

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