A fire breaks out in northeast Beijing on Monday. [Photo: CCTV]

A fire broke out near the Xiedao Holiday Village in northeast Beijing on Monday.

According to footage filmed by eyewitnesses, there was thick smoke at the scene and “continuous thuds” could be heard.

Several fire trucks have been dispatched to the site, while people in the area are being evacuated.

Labour
pledges ‘consumer rights revolution’ for renters as it reveals £800 million a
month in rent going to bad landlords 

Labour’s
Shadow Secretary of State for Housing John Healey has today pledged that under
a Labour government there would be a ‘consumer rights revolution’ for renters,
starting by introducing tougher legal minimum standards for all private rented
homes. 

Mr
Healey will say Labour’s new minimum standards will empower renters to “call
time on bad landlords” letting out dangerous or sub-standard homes and who are
being let down by Conservative Ministers who have weakened key legislation. 

Labour
analysis released alongside the pledge shows for the first time the cost of
England’s 1.3 million sub-standard private rented properties, now home to
400,000 families with children. Tenants are spending £800 million every month
(£9.6 billion a year) on homes which the government classes as ‘non-decent’.
Around a quarter of this– some £2.3bn a year – is paid by housing benefit.

At
present, there are effectively no minimum standard for private renters, and
tenants are reliant on over-stretched council environmental health teams to
weed out dangerous homes rather than being able to take matters into their own
hands.

Mr
Healey will point out that in practice people have “fewer rights renting a
family home than you do buying a fridge-freezer”. Consumer rights legislation
is limited in housing so while consumers will normally get protections
requiring that goods and services are ‘satisfactory quality’, and ‘fit for
purpose’ with clear redress and ‘repair or replace’ provisions, there are no
equivalent protections for renters.

A
Labour government would consult with landlords and relevant professionals on
new legal minimum standards to ensure properties are ‘fit for human habitation’
on specified criteria, for example:

–         
safe wiring and appliances

–         
freedom from serious damp and vermin infestation

–         
appropriate water and sewage facilities

–         
appropriate facilities for the
preparation and cooking of food

–         
general good repair.

Research
by Shelter in 2014 found that six in ten renters (61%) have experienced at
least one of the following problems over the last 12 months: damp, mould,
leaking roofs or windows, electrical hazards, animal infestations and gas
leaks.

As
part of Labour’s five point plan on standards announced today Mr Healey will
also pledge new powers for councils to license landlords and tough fines for
those who flout the rules. 

John
Healey MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, said:

“Our
homes are at the centre of our lives but at the moment renters too often don’t
have basic consumer rights that we take for granted in other areas. In practice
you have fewer rights renting a family home than you do buying a
fridge-freezer. As a result, too many are forced to put up with unacceptable,
unfit and downright dangerous housing.

“The
number of families renting from a private landlord has soared since 2010 but
decisions made by Conservative Ministers have made it easier for a minority of
bad landlords to game the system. Most landlords provide decent homes that
tenants are happy with, but these rogue landlords are ripping off both renters
and the taxpayer by making billions from rent and housing benefit letting out
sub-standard homes.

“After
seven years of failure the Conservatives have no plan to fix the housing
crisis. The next Labour government would call time on bad landlords. We’d
introduce proper minimum standards to put renters back in control, and give
councils the powers they need to tackle the worst offenders.”

Andrew Gwynne MP,
Labour’s National Campaigns and Elections Chair, on the 20th anniversary
of Labour’s 1997 election victory, said: 

“Twenty years on
from 1997, the lesson of that election is that it takes a Labour government to
bring about transformative change for the many not just the few.

"In 1997, after 18
years of the Tories running down the country, Britain needed a Labour
government to change working people’s lives for the better. That’s exactly what
the Labour government did between 1997 and 2010.

"The achievements
of that government were many. From ‎the New Deal which helped millions in
to work, to ‎the National Minimum Wage which made that work pay. From
peace in Northern Ireland to Sure Start which made a difference to millions of
children and their families. In education, school spending per pupil was
doubled, thousands of schools rebuilt and 42,000 more teachers helped deliver
some of the best ever school results. And for the NHS a Labour government was
transformative, with ‎the largest hospital building programme in history
and 44,000 more doctors and 89,000 more nurses driving up standards and driving
down waiting times.

"Now, ‎in 2017, we
again need a Labour government to rebuild and transform a country that is
suffering from Tory neglect and deepening inequality. ‎The message of 1997
is as relevant today as it was then: we need people to vote for change, to vote
for Labour and for a country for the many not the few.”