Southwark (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Southwark Council’s housing chief Michael Situ has resigned following a landlord licence blunder that echoed an error made by Rachel Reeves, sparking scrutiny over local oversight.
In the same borough where Chancellor Rachel Reeves violated rental regulations, Michael Situ resigned as Southwark Council’s Cabinet Member for Housing.
He acknowledged yesterday night that his accounts with his estate agency had “fallen into council tax arrears” and that he did not have the legal authorization to rent out his two Peckham houses.
Mr. Situ took “full responsibility for allowing this situation to arise” and expressed his desire to “lead with integrity” in a letter to Sarah King, the borough’s leader, blaming the mistake on a local letting agent who oversees his residences.
When Ms. Reeves moved into Downing Street after the General Election and started renting out her family’s Dulwich property; she was criticized last month for making the same 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.”
Additionally, the Monitoring Officer of the council has been tasked with looking into the problem.
It comes after a challenging year for Southwark Council. Following months of criticism of his administration and a devastating assessment by the housing regulator about the quality of the borough’s houses, former leader Kieron Williams resigned in June.
Just three months ago, Mr. Situ was chosen as Southwark’s housing cabinet member, and he promised to give the council’s “Good Landlord Plan” first attention.
A number of housing scandals have plagued the Labour government nationwide, including Rushanara Ali’s resignation as Homelessness Minister and Angela Rayner’s resignation as Deputy Prime Minister when she failed to pay the proper stamp duty when purchasing a new flat in Hove.
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.”
What penalties does Southwark impose for letting without a licence?
It’s a felonious offence to let a property without a needed licence, punishable by an unlimited fine upon conviction. Alternatively, the council can put forfeitures of over to £30,000 on landlords who fail to secure the licence. The council may also take control of the property if necessary.
Landlords could be ordered to repay tenants up to 12 months’ rent through a Rent Repayment Order. Southwark Council also applies enhanced license operation freights to cover the costs of probing unlicensed parcels and may add landlords to the public mischief landlord database.
Southwark Council can make landlords for letting without a licence, assessing forfeitures up to £30,000, reclaiming rent from tenants, taking control of parcels, and applying enhanced freights to unlicensed landlords.