The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, and the home secretary, Suella Braverman, are among five cabinet ministers who earn at least £10,000 a year renting out housing, according to a new snapshot of parliament’s landlords.
In all, 68 Conservative MPs – nearly one in five – are currently landlords, according to research by a campaign group, 38 Degrees, provoking calls for ministers finally to implement a 2019 government promise to reform private renting by scrapping no-fault evictions and improving tenants’ rights.
Hunt has declared he operates seven flats in Southampton, while Braverman, Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, and Lucy Frazer, the culture secretary, all declared one rental property in the latest House of Commons members’ register of financial interests. Alex Chalk, the justice secretary, declared a flat in Shepherd’s Bush and a share in a cottage in Gloucestershire, both producing more than £10,000 a year in income.
The study counted 87 MP landlords – more than 13% of the Commons – of whom 53 claimed rental income from one home and 34 from two or more properties. By contrast, only 4% of the UK population declare income from renting property.
