A Labour councillor in charge of housing at a London town hall has been forced to quit after failing to get licences for his rental homes.
Michael Situ has resigned as the Cabinet Member for Housing at Southwark Council - the same borough where Chancellor Rachel Reeves broke renting rules.
He last night admitted he did not obtain the correct permissions to let out his two properties in Peckham and accounts with his estate agents had "fallen into council tax arrears".
In a letter to the borough's leader, Sarah King, Mr Situ blamed a local letting agent who manages his homes for the error but added he takes "full responsibility for allowing this situation to arise" and wanted to “lead with integrity".
Ms Reeves last month faced criticism for making the same mistake when she began renting out her family home in Dulwich after moving into Downing Street following the General Election.
The Chancellor's estate agent was also blamed for failing to obtain the "selective" rental licence required by the council to let out the home. The Prime minister accepted her "sincere" apology for her "inadvertent error".
Mr 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."
Council leader Ms King replied: "You have acted with great integrity in taking responsibility for this situation and whilst I accept your decision to resign, you will be an enormous loss to my cabinet team."
The matter has also been referred to the council’s Monitoring Officer for investigation.
It follows a turbulent year for Southwark Council. Former leader Kieron Williams quit in June following months of criticism of his administration after a damning inspection by the housing regulator over the quality of the borough's homes.
Mr 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 slew of housing scandals with Angela Rayner resigning as Deputy Prime Minister after failing to pay the correct stamp duty when buying a new flat in Hove, and Rushanara Ali quitting as Homelessness Minister when it was revealed she had kicked out tenants in her east London property and then hiked 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."
A London Labour spokesman said: “Those in public office must meet the highest possible standards. The licensing errors were inadvertent, but stepping down is the right decision.
“It is always regrettable to lose committed colleagues like Cllr Michael Situ.
“As Cabinet Member for Council Homes, he helped drive forward the council’s Good Landlord Plan, improved the standard of homes the council is responsible for and strengthened the way we work with tenants and leaseholders.”
