Can Sadiq Khan stop Asif Aziz's mass evictions?

Early this morning I found myself standing in front of the south west London home of billionaire landlord Asif Aziz. I was there to make a last-ditch attempt, after all other avenues had been exhausted, to get answers from one of London’s most powerful families about the fate of hundreds of tenants housed by their Criterion Capital business.

Today the youth homelessness charity Centrepoint told London Centric they would cut ties with Aziz, turn down a planned donation from his foundation, and cease to be the charity partner of his ongoing central London Ramadan Lights display with immediate effect. They no longer felt able to associate with a landlord that professes a commitment to housing people while also trying to evict them. We understand moves are also afoot at Merton council to encourage all London councils to cut ties with the family and refuse to pay them for temporary accommodation.

Then this evening, London Centric learned that the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, who met Aziz at a charity event only last week, wrote directly to the billionaire landlord asking him once again to permanently stop the mass evictions.

The letter, seen by London Centric, states that Criterion has failed to engage with the mayor’s team all week and this “has created an increasingly worrying and uncertain situation for tenants, particularly now that further allegations have been put to us about evictions already underway”.

“The right to a good, safe and stable home is fundamental and I am steadfast in my opposition to the use of Section 21 no-fault evictions, let alone their potential use on a mass scale,” said Khan, asking for an “urgent response” from Aziz.

A U-turn on a U-turn?

When London Centric uncovered Criterion Capital’s plan to carry out the biggest mass eviction in recent London history, it sparked an immediate political row.

On Monday, the day after the story was published, Aziz’s tenants received bizarre door-to-door visits explaining that their evictions had all been a big misunderstanding. They were told they would be allowed to stay in their homes if they recorded videos requesting to remain in the properties. There were celebrations among residents. I wrote that