Reform vows it will get tough on ‘profiteering migrant landlords’

Reform has launched a campaign to protect British tenants from being evicted by landlords cashing in on lucrative government contracts to house illegal migrants.

The party, which secured 31% of the vote and 42% of seats in the May 1 local elections, accuses Labour and past Tory governments of enabling a ‘betrayal on a biblical scale’.

It says that landlords are issuing Section 21 eviction notices to clear properties for seven-year tenancy deals at 15-20% above market rates, often to accommodate young male migrants from countries like Iran and Syria.

Displaced tenants, including veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, are left in hotels with little hope of long-term housing, as some councils warn of waits up to 100 years.

Landlord betraying your country

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Zia Yusuf the chairman of Reform UK, said: “If you are a landlord in a Reform-controlled council and considering betraying your country by accepting a golden government contract to house illegal migrants in HMOs, you can expect rules to be enforced.

“Expect inspections to check your compliance with CCTV in communal areas, bin-storage rules, proof of regular PAT testing of electrical appliances and on anti-social-behaviour. Rules are rules.

“Labour’s Cabinet, like the Etonian coterie that preceded them, are insulated from any of these realities. They could not care less.”

He added: “The deep irony of all this is that Angela Rayner barely goes a week without claiming to be a champion of ‘renters’ rights’. Labour is set to ban Section 21 next year.

“Yet today, it’s being weaponised to clear out our own citizens for gilt-edged private deals to provide migrant accommodation.”

He goes on to say that it’s a ‘moral outrage where British families are cast aside for profit’.

Party will enforce HMO rules

Reform says it has assembled a pro bono legal team, led by a top King’s Counsel, to challenge these practices.

The party will be targeting violations in planning laws, such as hotels operating as hostels without permission, and enforcing strict regulations on Houses in Multiple Occupancy (HMOs).

Mr Yusuf points to a 2022 Great Yarmouth injunction as a precedent for halting migrant housing schemes.

With control of 10 English councils and mayoral posts in Hull and East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, Reform says it has a mandate to reverse decades of ‘anti-British’ policies.

Despite limited local powers compared to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Reform’s councillors say they are determined to resist.

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