Agents in Stella Creasy’s constituency are bracing themselves for an “awards” ceremony tomorrow morning in which the worst and best sales and letting agents will be named by the MP and her supporters.
At the ‘ceremony’ will be Sadiq Khan, the Labour candidate for the next mayor of London.
It is the second year that Creasy has run the ‘awards’. Voting closed today at noon.
Last year, she and some placard waving supporters stormed in uninvited to the agent that was claimed to have been named as the worst in Walthamstow.
The agent claimed to have been the best had only been open a very short time.
Creasy does not name the venue where tomorrow’s “awards” ceremony is taking place, but she has invited the public to attend and to email for details.
Last year’s “awards” caused enormous upset among agents and are likely to do so again.
However, agents in the town have purportedly taken their complaints to David Cameron, the Parliamentary Complaints Committee, and the Labour and Co-operative parties.
In a letter to them and which EYE has seen, the writer – who says they are writing on behalf of a group of estate agents – says: “Ms Creasy runs the Waltham Forest Annual Housing Awards which the title itself suggests that it is about the housing market as a whole. However agents in the borough feel that this is specifically targeted towards naming and shaming estate agents.
“Central Estate Agents ‘won’ the award for the worst agent and their staff were set upon within their work environment by Ms Creasy, the press and protesters waving banners.
“Of all the people who had attended to name and shame Central Estate Agents, there was not a single person who had transacted with the business in question.
“This behaviour was intimidating and has caused fear amongst the estate agents in the borough.”
The complaint to the Prime Minister and others also says that Creasy’s “awards” – which were last year said to have attracted 200 votes – created “the desired effect of added hysteria in respect of the housing crisis. Estate agents did not create the housing crisis and should not be held accountable for an issue so complex.”
The letter ends by saying that the “awards” have led people in Walthamstow to be afraid of estate agents – and that estate agents are afraid of their local MP.
On her website rallying people to attend tomorrow’s event, Creasy writes: “The cost of housing in Walthamstow is now the top issue residents raise with me as your local MP- whether the shortage of properties, rising rents, unsustainable prices, overcrowding or increasing homelessness.”
She goes on to say that the awards will include a “special MP” nomination for horror stories.
Comments (23)
200 votes out of 41,700 voters at 2015 election isn’t a proud number to say her awards are representative of the public.
Yet another bed wetting leftie having a dig at the housing market, of which they know nothing about – see Yevette Cooper and co and her ridiculous role out of the misguided Home Information Park. Taking a straw pole of 200 left wing voters who believe the world owes them a living, the right to a pay rise regardless of market forces and a cheap house is hardly market evidence! So let her name and shame, it would appear this may affect as many as 200 would be council tenants.
Mr Outsider I take it is a pseudonym for Stella Creasy’s press office? Yet another career politician who has never worked for anyone but the civil service and as such has no touch with the real business world.
What a horrible, stupid woman.
Just looking to gain some publicity and in the same breath looking to effect the lively hoods of local small businesses.
A woman in her position, if she was really worried about housing could do a lot more good with working with local councils or shaping government policy.
Instead she is looking to cash in on peoples misery and create more misery for local business owners.
Stupid, horrible woman.
A woman in her position, if she was really worried about housing could do a lot more good with working with local councils or shaping government policy.
I dont want to sound like a member of her fan club here, but she does this. Lots. More than pretty much any shadow MP in fact.
‘I dont want to sound like a member of her fan club here’
You’ve well and truly blown that cover
Pity she doesn’t do proper research and focus on sorting out known rouge agents AND landlords in the area.
May be her time could be better spent looking at why a lot of new build housing / flats in the area are being purchased by foreign investors who leave them empty whilst they drive the market upwards and even further away from being affordable by those that need housing………far be it for an MP to tackle this issue on behalf of the people that effectively pay her wages….. ie the tax payer………..!!!
See here https://redbrickblog.wordpress.com/2015/08/31/stella-creasy-mp-on-housing/ for some of her views on housing and the things she’s doing and has done to address the housing issues in her borough and the UK.
From the document you refer to. Simply underlines the bigotry when it comes to estate and letting agents.
I was proud to work closely with Emma Reynolds MP to put forward proposals through the Consumer Rights Bill to tackle rip off practices of letting and estate agents, as well as ensure longer tenancies and housing standards are upheld. Together we defeated ‘double charging’ whereby estate agents were charging a fee to buyers of properties as well as sellers and ensured the government introduced transparency of fees for tenants. However, the opposition of the government to real reform of the private rented sector shows why Labour must lead the way.
You have a funny idea of bigotry if you think it’s around challenging unscrupulous landlords and unfair agents as well as championing consumer rights.
‘She will be someone with real influence in the party and UK politics.’ Quite possibly. So let’s hope that by then she will have grown up and learned to behave in less intimidating manner. And to be far more careful about who she accuses and what she accuses them of.
Tell you what, why as an industry don’t we set up a Worst MP for Housing award?
Maybe a landlord MP who has a bad rep?
The winner gets a visit from a load of estate agents on one the rare occasions he/she is at their office. Let’s see how they like it!
Stella is one of the few labour politicians that I have a lot of time for.
Once Corbyn has had his time and his hippy followers go back to tree hugging and sipping nettle tea, she will be someone with real influence in the party and UK politics.
I wouldn’t be surprised if she leads Labour herself at some point, and the industry would do well to try and get her on side.
So she is going to go out tomorrow and humiliate an Estate Agency and that’s ok in your book?
I can’t see the Oscars naming the worst film or actor/actress what makes her think she is so special?
She’s championing a cause and getting significant publicity for it. That’s what good politicians do!
I dont know who will be the winner or loser tomorrow, but i’m guessing there wont be categories like “Agent with cheapest suit” or “Flashiest car”, it’ll be where someone in her constituency feels like they have been wronged to such an extent that she wants to hold the agent to account in a public way.
It’s a local politician doing very visible work for the people she works for. If every politician was the same, we’d be in a much better place as a nation.
We have an ombudsman for that.
You’re on her payroll right?
As one of the few labour politicians I have time for, I think it’s fairly obvious i’m not a big labour fan and therefore couldn’t/wouldn’t work for one of their politicians.
But I have a lot of time for someone who very visibly champions consumer rights regardless of what industry it’s against, as well as someone who actually wants to be an MP to improve her local town. That can only be a good thing, right?
No, it is anything but a good thing to humiliate a business in public.
I sincerely hope agents from Walthamstow and neighbouring towns bring an awful lot of eggs to work tomorrow. See who likes the humiliation then, eye for an eye and all.
“She’s championing a cause…”
What complete, unadulterated MDT.
Clueless – and clearly happy with that.
What does MDT mean?
It’s a local politician doing very visible work for the people she works for.
Good for her.
Now what about the honest and decent people who work as estate agents in her constituency and probably live in it. Is it praiseworthy for a responsible politician to demonise them and by her actions instill fear in them? I’m all for championing a cause but this cheap and misdirected publicity stunt is deplorable.
Instilling fear? Have you seen Stella before?
Indeed I have. And at the risk of being accused of being un-PC I would say she is very easy on the eye. However, when she is accompanied by a braying bunch of placard wavers storming into an office unannounced and uninvited I’m sorry but her radiant qualities pale into insignificance.
That is a bit presumptive and slightly naive not to mention arrogant.
Letting Agents act for landlords, if Mx Creasy has ambitions to influence any budget other than her own personal one it is probably wise to understand the people who own the properties rather than dictate and get all shouty with people employed by landlords to do a job.
It is down to landlords in her constituency to judge agencies and they do that with their commission to agents.
If Mx Creasy wants to get so visibly vocal and demonstrate her own mis-understanding of Agency I say let her carry on, she is undermining her own credibility and not that of the agents she pillories.
This sort of political show boating simply reinforces my belief that housing from full social provision through to ownership and provision of social housing ought to be apolitical and therefore protected from these sort of Student unionesque antics.
Never mind you get on girl, get all shouty; the people you are impressing don’t own the solution to the problems created by Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Yvette Cooper and co, the people who do are making a mental note of your carrying ons.