Former deputy prime minister John Prescott discussed “the return of Rachmanism” in his Sunday Mirror column at the weekend.
Prescott explained how Peter Rachman, a Polish migrant, was the “archetypal slum landlord”.
Rachman, says Prescott, subdivided houses into flats and rooms, forced people out of their homes and replaced them with migrants from the West Indies as it was easier to charge them more because they weren’t covered by rent protection.
“We tackled Rachmanism through legislation, housing finance and building more local authority housing. But 50 years later Rachman lives on in a new generation of unscrupulous landlords,” wrote Prescott, “More than a million rented homes in the private sector are now substandard. But for years, the taxpayer has subsidised them through housing benefit.
“Research has revealed that at least 36% of London’s council houses sold off by Thatcher are now in the hands of private landlords. Rents are at their highest ever to maximise obscene profits.”
Prescott went on to discuss Fergus Wilson’s decision to evict tenants on benefits and rent to Eastern Europeans instead.
“We pay out £9.3billion in housing benefit every year. It helped people like Wilson build their property empires. But cuts to these benefits and the introduction of the bedroom tax means they’re looking to maintain their margins,” wrote Prescott, “Now only one in five landlords rents to people on benefits. Cutting benefits has led to landlords kicking out the poorest people in society. We must get tough and follow Newham Council’s lead by licensing all private landlords to stop them kicking out the vulnerable to feather their own nests.”
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remember prescott had secure tenancy flat in clapham old town for many years--courtesy RMT. he pushed further rent controls to limit rises in secure tenancy rents to a few percent per annum--he denied he would benefit! RMT threw him out--i assume he got compensation but never announced publicly--prescott is a very nasty individual
Rachmanism was ended by the Rent Act, which, over time caused chronic (much worse than today) housing shortages. The Rent Act swung the pendulum far over towards tenants `rights` - Landlords stopped being landlords. The 1988 Act changed everything and made the balance twixt landlord & tenant more equitable, hence the growth in the PRS since then. Two Jags should research his facts before attempting to rehabilitate himself back into public life by trying to ingratiate himself to the left-wing, PRS-hating establishment. Prescott, Brown, Blair & others all keep a low profile as they know, but refuse to accept responsibility, that they collectively absolutely knackered this country economically, morally & ethically. They took us to war, they sold nearly all our gold & spent all our money trying to stay in power..
Sad thing is, the 'tougher' the government are, and the harder they make it to stop private Landlords 'kicking out the vulnerable', the less likely the landlords are to take the vulnerable on in the first place..
Lesson for Lord Thingy of Hull, ex cabibn boy who made bad, this is what happens in a free market:-
“Research has revealed that at least 36% of London’s council houses sold off by Thatcher are now in the hands of private landlords. Rents are at their highest ever to maximise obscene profits.”
So who sold the houses to the Landlords? The original council tenants when the discount payback period ended, 3 years I think in first sales, then extended to 5 years?
@GB
Asking Two Jags to show respect for anyone is impossible. The problem here half the time isn't the tenants themselves, its the LHA system. Pay Landlords direct and your one in five would probably become 3 in five depending on alternative demand.
The reason why only one in five landlords rent to people on benefits is because of past experience with slum tenants who have no self respect and do not look after the property.
And it's Mrs Thatcher. Show some respect