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14/7/25 8:13 pm
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The political backwash continues following revelations earlier this month that landlord and Chancellor Rachel Reeves had failed to obtain a selective license for her rental property in Dulwich.
Senior Labour councillor Michael Situ (main image) within the London Borough of Peckham has resigned after local LibDem activists discovered that he had not complied with the borough’s own landlord licensing rules, the same local rules in Southwark that nearly cost Reeves her job.
“Labour promised zero tolerance for rogue landlords,” says Liberal Democrat Group Leader Councillor Victor Chamberlain (pictured).
“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.”
It emerged that Situ has several rental properties including two in Peckham within the London Borough of Southwark, but they had not been licensed under the borough’s own selective scheme. He had initially said his letting agency had failed to obtain the licenses, but accepted that legally he was responsible for the properties’ compliance, not the agents, and resigned his position on the council’s cabinet.
He said: “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.”
David Simmonds, the shadow housing minister, told The Telegraph: “It beggars belief that Labour’s cabinet member for housing on Southwark council has resigned for failing to obtain the correct licence to rent out his property just weeks after the Rachel Reeves saga.
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