The Labour housing chief in the council where Rachel Reeves owns her rental property has resigned – because he has failed to licence his own buy to lets.
Michael Situ has resigned as housing committee chairperson in the London borough of Southwark.
He was discovered to have failed to obtain the appropriate licences for his two rental properties in Peckham.
Like Chancellor Reeves some weeks ago, Situ has blamed a local letting agent who manages his homes for the error.
In a statement Situ is quoted as saying: “In light of recent media scrutiny of Southwark’s housing licensing scheme, I took it upon myself to review my own arrangements as an owner of rental properties in the borough.
“I have a contractual arrangement with a local letting agent who manage properties on my behalf which sets out that they are responsible for letting, licensing and maintaining those homes… it has come to my attention that despite their contractual obligations, the letting agent has allowed these properties to be without the appropriate licences at various points and that the agent’s accounts have fallen into council tax arrears.
“Whilst this is a failure on behalf of my letting agent, these are my properties, and I take full responsibility for allowing this situation to arise. Moving forward I have ensured that all necessary licenses are being sought and that all obligations on the properties are met.
“As the Cabinet Member responsible for council homes in the borough, it is imperative to maintain trust with our residents and to show that we mean what we say when we are committed to tackling the housing crisis.
“We must lead with integrity and not give the impression we are anything other than determined to improve housing in our borough. I do not want my oversight to distract from this critical work and therefore I will resign from Cabinet with immediate effect.”
The Chancellor failed to buy a selective licence when she let her Southwark townhouse in summer 2024, citing a failure on the part of her lettings agent.
Southwark’s administration claims to have a zero tolerance policy for landlords breaking the rules but at a meeting this week refused to take further action over Reeves’ failure to get a license.
This article is taken from Landlord Today