Housing secretary Angela Rayner has taken a £20,000 speaking fee from an estate agents’ lobbying group, even though she once condemned MPs earning money from outside jobs as “beyond shameful”.

Rayner received the fee as part of a two-hour speaking engagement on 12 June at the annual conference of Propertymark, an industry body with over 19,000 members.

The next month she returned to her ministerial role, having stepped down in 2025 over her failure to pay enough tax on a newly purchased flat.

Rayner spoke at the conference’s “flagship event” in her capacity as the “chief architect” of the Renters’ Right Act, which came into force in England on 1 May.

The event, which included a Q&A, was billed as an opportunity for property professionals to hear her speak and grill her over the housing reforms. The payment was made just weeks before Rayner ruled out introducing rent controls in England. There is no suggestion she breached any rules.

She told the BBC on 24 July that she did not think “rent freezes, rent controls, is a way forward at the moment”, despite the fact prime minister Andy Burnham previously backed rent freezes as mayor of Greater Manchester.

Propertymark opposes rent controls and lobbied against proposals for a rent freeze.

Rayner’s spokesperson told Novara Media that “all earnings have been declared in line with the rules”.

The payment has raised fresh questions over whether ministers should receive money from organisations with interests associated with their ministerial portfolio.

Rayner previously expressed her opposition to rent controls in October 2024. “Rent controls restrict housing supply, which does not help anyone,” she said during a debate on the Renters’ Rights Bill.

Between January and June 2026 – during her ten months away from government – Rayner received roughly £400,000 in payments and donations from businesses and private individuals, including a £61,500 advance from publisher Bodley Head for a book about her life and political career.

The scale of the earnings is notable given Rayner’s previous attacks on MPs who supplement their parliamentary salaries with outside work.

In March 2023, Rayner commented on an investigation by the pressure group Led By Donkeys, titled MPs for Hire. “This is beyond shameful,” she wrote on social media. “Being an MP isn’t a second job. It is the job.”

Nathan Emerson, chief executive of Propertymark, said: “Ms Rayner was not serving as a government minister” at the time she was invited to speak at the conference. “There was no indication or expectation that she would subsequently return to government, nor was there any certainty at that point about the future political leadership under Andy Burnham.”

The parliamentary standards committee is looking into whether there should be changes to the rules governing MPs and their outside interests. When approached for comment on Rayner’s case by Novara Media, it said: “The committee does not comment on individual member activity.”

Susan Hawley, executive director of the charity Spotlight on Corruption, told Novara Media: “When MPs appear to cash in on their public status for personal gain it is deeply damaging to trust in politicians and in Westminster.

“This is more than about one individual, however. It is about a system that allows members of parliament to line their pockets outside of their day job without any limits – a system that Rayner rightly criticised and which the Labour government committed to end. Two years on from being elected, however, there is still no sign of the urgent action promised to bring in much stricter controls on MPs’ second jobs.

“There is no doubt that there will also need to be careful consideration of any conflicts of interest that have arisen from these activities now that Rayner has become a minister again.”

Novara Media

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