Rachel has criticised HS2 for sharply hiking rents in rental properties they own, then refusing to engage with their tenants about the issue.

One tenant who lives in a property owned by HS2 is being made to pay more than £400 a month in additional rent, an overnight increase of more than £5000 a year. The tenant said all efforts to discuss the issue with subcontracted property management agent Carter Jonas had been ignored.

After being contacted by several constituents facing similar issues, Rachel Taylor MP said she had tried to discuss the issue in good faith with both HS2 and Carter Jonas, but had been repeatedly stonewalled. She has contacted HS2 or Carter Jonas more than ten times between 17 April and 30 May 2025, by both email and by phone, but received nothing more than a holding response on every occasion.

She said she had been left with no option but to make the issue public in an effort to get HS2 and their agents to engage with their own tenants.

She said she felt it was more than likely the issue was impacting other tenants in HS2-owned properties up and down the construction route, given the issue had been raised with her independently by several constituents at the same time.

She also accused Carter Jonas of deliberately stonewalling her attempts at contact in an effort to delay discussions until after the date the rent increases had kicked in.

Rachel said:

Standing up to rogue landlords who treat their tenants with contempt is part and parcel of being a local MP, but it’s shocking that in this case the landlord is a public body acting on behalf of the taxpayer. It’s simply unacceptable that I have been stonewalled by HS2 and Carter Jonas for more than five weeks while my constituents are facing thousands of pounds in annual rent increases with no explanation.

 

I won’t stand for my constituents being given the runaround by HS2 or their subcontracted lackeys. If Carter Jonas won’t drop these unreasonable rent demands, or even have the decency to answer my emails and calls about them, then HS2 needs to step in and bring them to heal. It’s really that simple.