76 Members of Parliament either rent out property in London or are MPs for London constituencies and get extra income from being a landlord.
All MPs have to register outside financial interests, and the details of the MPs elected in May have been released. A total of 126 MPs are residential landlords, but the majority are either London-based or have property here. 17 London MPs own various properties worth over £100,000 which they earn in excess of £10,000 a year from; special mention goes to Bob Blackman, Conservative MP for Harrow East, who appears to have a mini buy-to-let empire of six properties in Welwyn Garden City jointly owned with his wife.
The remaining 59 MPs are letting out homes in the capital; one of Tory MP for Scarborough and Whitby Robert Goodwill's six properties is a flat in London; Labour's Michael Meacher (Oldham West) has four homes in London that he rents out; Tory MP for Stratford on Avon Nadhim Zahawi has a house somewhere in the city that has been converted into three flats for rent; Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Tory MP for The Cotswolds) has "various let properties" here. Oliver Letwin (Tory MP for West Dorset) curiously describes himself and his wife as "let[ting] out rooms in our London home", but since he receives over £10k a year for them we're presuming this isn't a lodger in the loft conversion.
Being a landlord in itself is not, of course, something to necessarily be ashamed of. But as Betsy Dillner, director of Generation Rent, says:
"I am certain that the 126 landlords in Parliament have an impeccable record, responding quickly to disrepair, letting their tenants create homes and not raising the rent unnecessarily. However, this shouldn’t blind them to the exploitation that is happening in the worst parts of the lettings market. Some of the most vulnerable members of society rely on private landlords for a roof over their head, and they rely on Parliament to make sure they’re properly protected. The prevalence of landlords in Parliament is a reminder to private tenants how important it is to make their voices heard."
You can see more detail about each MP in the Register of Members' Financial Interests.
The full list of London MPs who are residential landlords is:
- Rushanara Ali (Labour, Bethnal Green and Bow)
- James Berry (Conservative, Kingston and Surbiton)
- Bob Blackman (Conservative, Harrow East)
- Ruth Cadbury (Labour, Brentford and Isleworth)
- Jane Ellison (Conservative, Battersea)
- Mike Freer (Conservative, Finchley and Golders Green)
- Meg Hillier (Labour, Hackney South and Shoreditch)
- Nick Hurd (Conservative, Ruislip-Northwood and Pinner)
- Jo Johnson (Conservative, Orpington)
- David Lammy (Labour, Tottenham)
- Seema Malhotra (Labour, Feltham and Heston)
- Tania Mathias (Conservative, Twickenham)
- Bob Neill (Conservative, Bromley and Chislehurst)
- Joan Ryan (Labour, Enfield North)
- Gareth Thomas (Labour, Harrow West)
- Emily Thornberry (Labour, Islington South and Finsbury)
- Theresa Villiers (Conservative, Chipping Barnet)
Other MPs who let residential property in London are:
- John Baron (Conservative, Basildon and Billericay)
- Richard Benyon (Conservative, Newbury)
- John Bercow (Conservative, Buckingham)
- Clive Betts (Labour, Sheffield South East)
- Andy Burnham (Labour, Leigh)
- David Cameron (Conservative, Witney)
- Douglas Carswell (UKIP, Clacton)
- Alex Chalk (Conservative, Cheltenham)
- James Cleverly (Conservative, Braintree)
- Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Conservative, The Cotswolds)
- Damian Collins (Conservative, Folkstone and Hythe)
- David Crausby (Labour, Bolton North)
- Geraint Davies (Labour, Swansea West)
- Philip Davies (Conservative, Shipley)
- Richard Drax (Conservative, South Dorset)
- James Duddridge (Conservative, Rochford and Southend East)
- Alan Duncan (Conservative, Rutland and Melton)
- Philip Dunne (Conservative, Ludlow)
- George Eustice (Conservative, Camborne and Redruth)
- Liam Fox (Conservative, North Somerset)
- John Glen (Conservative, Salisbury)
- Robert Goodwill (Conservative, Scarborough and Whitby)
- James Gray (Conservative, North Wiltshire)
- Chris Grayling (Conservative, Epsom and Ewell)
- Dominic Grieve (Conservative, Beaconsfield)
- John Hayes (Conservative, South Holland and The Deepings)
- James Heappey (Conservative, Wells)
- Philip Hollobone (Conservative, Kettering)
- Jeremy Hunt (Conservative, South West Surrey)
- Stewart Jackson (Conservative, Peterborough)
- Sajid Javid (Conservative, Bromsgrove)
- Bernard Jenkin (Conservative, Harwich and North Essex)
- Greg Knight (Conservative, East Yorkshire)
- Norman Lamb (Liberal Democrat, North Norfolk)
- Chris Leslie (Labour, Nottingham East)
- Oliver Letwin (Conservative, West Dorset)
- Julian Lewis (Conservative, New Forest East)
- Angus MacNeil (Scottish National Party, Na h-Eileanan an Iar)
- Alasdair McDonnell (SDLP, Belfast South)
- Michael Meacher (Labour, Oldham West)
- Madeleine Moon (Labour, Bridgend)
- Anne-Marie Morris (Conservative, Newton Abbot)
- John Nicolson (Scottish National Party, East Dumbartonshire)
- George Osborne (Conservative, Tatton)
- Owen Paterson (Conservative, North Shropshire)
- Jeremy Quinn (Conservative, Horsham)
- Jacob Rees-Mogg (Conservative, North East Somerset)
- Laurence Robertson (Conservative, Tewkesbury)
- Antoinette Sandbach (Conservative, Eddisbury)
- Andrew Smith (Labour, Oxford East)
- Julian Smith (Conservative, Skipton and Ripon)
- Desmond Swayne (Conservative, New Forest West)
- Anne-Marie Trevelyan (Conservative, Berwick upon Tweed)
- Andrew Turner (Conservative, Isle of Wight)
- Shailesh Vara (Conservative, North West Cambridgeshire)
- Keith Vaz (Labour, Leicester East)
- Ben Wallace (Conservative, Wyre and Preston North)
- John Whittingdale (Conservative, Maldon)
- Nadhim Zahawi (Conservative, Stratford on Avon)
