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A Labour council housing chief has resigned after failing to secure the required licences for his rental homes in the capital.
Michael Situ has stepped down as Southwark Council’s cabinet member for housing – the same borough where chancellor Rachel Reeves previously breached renting rules – after he admitted that he had not obtained consent to let two properties he owns in Peckham, blaming an error by the letting agent managing them but accepting “full responsibility for allowing this situation to arise”.
Reeves also faced calls to resign last month after making the same mistake when she let out her family home in Dulwich following Labour’s general election victory.
Situ said: “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 matter has also been referred to the council’s Monitoring Officer for investigation.
Situ was appointed Southwark’s cabinet member for housing just three months ago and pledged to make the council’s “Good Landlord Plan” his top priority.
Nationally, the Labour government has faced a string of housing-related controversies, with Angela Rayner stepping down as Deputy Prime Minister following reports that she failed to pay the correct stamp duty on a flat she bought in Hove. Rushanara Ali also resigned as Homelessness Minister after it emerged she had removed tenants from her east London property before increasing the rent.
Southwark Liberal Democrat leader Victor Chamberlain said: “This is the second Labour councillor to have to resign from the cabinet in less than six months over Labour’s housing crisis.
“They will now be forced to find their seventh housing cabinet member in just six years.
“Labour promised ‘zero tolerance’ for rogue landlords. Yet when their own chancellor knowingly failed to get a licence for more than a year, that zero tolerance became very forgiving. And now we learn one of the same councillors responsible for enforcing these rules was also a rule breaker.
“Labour have broken their promise time and again. They think it’s one rule for them and another for the rest of us.”
Calls to act against Rachel Reeves rejected by Labour-led Southwark Council
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