Housing minister Matthew Pennycook has rapped fellow London MP Jas Athwal over homes rented out.
But as he announced new laws to “level decisively the playing field” between tenants and landlords, Mr Pennycook, who represents Greenwich and Woolwich, criticised his fellow Labour MP.
He told LBC Radio: “I’ve not spoken to him directly.
“But you will have seen the comments of the Prime Minister, that behaviour is unacceptable.
“The MP in question has made an apology. I understand they have removed their letting agent.
“But I don’t think that in any way that excuses that behaviour.
“Landlords have a responsibility to ensure their properties are well maintained and well managed.”
He co-owns 15 rental homes in the capital according to Parliament’s register of members’ financial interests, with some reportedly having “pretty serious faults”.
Mr Athwal has said he has broken ties with the management agency he was paying to look after his properties.
The MP has also pledged to rectify the problems with the properties.
“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,” he said in a statement after the claims about the state of the properties were made.
“I’m profoundly sorry that tenants have been let down and will be reviewing the property management and how matters are escalated going forward.”
Mr Pennycook commented on Mr Athwal’s rentals as he announced reforms for renters to “drive out disreputable landlords from the sector”.
The Renters’ Rights Bill being introduced on Wednesday will “decisively level the playing field between landlords and tenants”, Mr Pennycook said.
He stressed that “good landlords have nothing to fear from these reforms” but that landlords will not be able to “arbitrarily evict any tenant with a section 21 notice, including tenants that make complaints about things like damp and mould, rather than fix those problems.”
He said: “We recognise that most landlords provide a good service to their tenants. We want to drive out disreputable landlords from the sector, but good landlords through this Bill will have robust grounds for possession when they need to take their properties back.”
Mr Pennycook said he did not recognise warnings that the changes could prompt landlords to sell their buy-to-let properties and reduce how many rental properties are available.
He said: “If a proportion of ... over-geared buy-to-let landlords leave and we have more professional private rent providers come in, that will actually, I think, drive some improvements for tenants. We want to see, for example, an increase in the build-to-rent sector where you’ve got professional providers coming in and providing a slightly different offer.”
The legislation includes a blanket ban on no-fault evictions.
The previous government pledged to end section 21 evictions, which allow landlords to evict tenants with two months’ notice without providing a reason, but concern about its impact on landlords and the courts was set to lead to a delay in implementation.
The Conservatives’ Renters (Reform) Bill then ran out of time to progress through Parliament before the election.
The new Government said it will go further than previously proposed by banning section 21 evictions for both new and existing tenancies, with research by charity Shelter finding 26,000 households have been evicted through the process since 2019.
The Bill will also extend Awaab’s Law, named after the toddler who died after exposure to mould in his family’s social rented home, to the private sector to ensure all landlords speedily address hazards and make homes safe.
The new law would also ban rent increases being written into contracts to prevent mid-tenancy hikes, leaving landlords only able to raise rent once a year at the market rate.
In addition, the Bill would end blanket bans imposed by some landlords on those receiving benefits or with children, and allow tenants to have pets.
A Decent Homes Standard will be applied to the private rented sector for the first time, with the Government highlighting that 21 per cent of privately rented homes are currently classified as “non-decent” and more than 500,000 contain the most serious hazards.
Also included in the reforms is a legal requirement for landlords and letting agents to publish the required rent for a property in a crackdown on the practice of forcing potential tenants into a bidding process.
Landlords and agents will be banned from “asking for, encouraging, or accepting any bids” above the publicly stated price.
A new private rented sector database will also be created to clarify landlords’ obligations, enable tenants to make informed choices and improve councils’ enforcement.
Responding to the Bills publication, Polly Neate, Shelter chief executive, said Section 21 “has haunted England’s renters for years” and “11 million of them will breathe a sigh of relief when these unjust evictions are finally consigned to the history books”.
