Housing a basic need, not an investment vehicle – Zarah Sultana

Zarah Sultana has said housing “is not an investment vehicle, it is a basic human need” after tabling a parliamentary motion to “ban MPs from being landlords”.

Speaking to National Housing Demonstration protesters demanding better council housing and rent controls, the Your Party MP said: “We know that the housing crisis is not an accident, it is not a failure, it is the system doing exactly what it was designed to do.

“Landlords profit, developers profit, banks profit – and who pays the price?

“The working class, with higher rents, overcrowded houses, insecure tenancies and evictions.

“These are not side-effects, this is the model itself,” she told demonstrators in Soho Square Gardens, west London, on Saturday.

The National Housing Demonstration says Sir Keir Starmer’s Government is not addressing the root causes of the issue and their website states that private renters in England paid landlords £107 billion in rent last year.

The founding statement on its website reads: “We are the countless people trapped in unaffordable, overcrowded and unsafe housing. We are the private renters, social housing tenants, families in temporary accommodation, and sleeping rough.

“We are the workers, disabled people, young and old. We are people of colour, migrants, queer and trans people. We are all driven to breaking point by the same system, and we demand change.”

Ms Zultana, who has tabled an Early Day Motion to ban MPs from being landlords, told protesters that “people with the power to actually change the system have a financial interest in keeping it exactly as it is”.

She said: “It isn’t just a bad look, it is a clear conflict of interest, it is indefensible, and this is what corruption looks like.

“Housing isn’t a luxury, it is not an investment vehicle, it is a basic human need.”

Protesters chanted “here to stay, here to fight, housing is a human right”, whilst holding signs, one of which read: “Labour is in bed with landlords”.

The new Renters Rights’ Act, which will come into force in May, should provide renters with greater protections from rogue landlords.

Freedom of Information disclosures by 285 English councils revealed penalties totalling £29.7 million were issued to landlords in 2023-24 and 2024-25, but only £7.4 million was collected.

This means 75% of the total due from the 3,695 civil penalties imposed over the period was not paid by offenders.

Meanwhile, 124 councils did not issue a single civil penalty to landlords between 2023 and 2025, while 68 issued five or fewer over the period.

The Renters’ Rights Act will increase the maximum penalties from £7,000 to £40,000.

But the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA), which conducted the research, warned that rogue landlords will continue to avoid financial punishment without a significant increase in upfront funding for councils.