The Green Party says it will create a ‘Rogue Landlord Taskforce’ in a council where it’s just taken control.
However, its party leader has been accused of not paying council tax on his principal home – possible for as long as three years.
A statement from the Greens, who won 40 of the 54 seats on Lewisham Council in south London, has pledged the taskforce because “the housing crisis has reached breaking point.”
It adds that many Lewisham residents “cannot afford to live here” and are “trapped in the precarity of the private rental sector, where rising rents and insecure tenancies push many into homelessness.”
The Green Party fought last week’s elections with a campaign pledge to fight for the powers to introduce private sector rent controls at local level – so far, councils have not had the authority to do so.,
However, the Greens’ pledge comes at the same time as the revelation that party leader Zack Polanski admits council tax non-payment.
In a statement given to the BBC, a party spokesperson said Polanski had “taken steps to pay any council tax he may be found to owe” and added “Zack apologises sincerely for the unintentional mistake.”
Polanski has been under pressure to explain whether a houseboat, moored at a marina in Hackney, had been his primary residence.
A boat is liable for council tax when used as a person’s “sole or main residence”, according to the high profile tax lawyer Dan Neidle, whose Tax Policy Associates service has investigated the tax affairs of several politicians.
The Times newspaper last week questioned whether Polanski had paid council tax for the boat for the past three years.
It reported that it had seen an advertisement to sell the boat in which Polanski’s partner had said: “We are moving house and so will sadly be leaving the gorgeous community behind.”
The paper said that the Green Party had told it that Polanski lived in a room that he rented at a different address in London and council tax was included in his rent there.
The party told the paper that he only stayed on the boat “occasionally”.
However the Times reported that the Green Party leader and his partner “appear in recent years to have stayed on a narrowboat at a marina”, adding a local laundrette said it had often done laundry for Polanski and his partner from 2023 to 2025.
Polanski, along with several other individuals also thought to have boats in the marina, used a nearby building as a postal address.
When the BBC asked the Green Party for clarification about Polanski’s residence and whether he had paid the relevant council tax, a party spokesperson gave us a statement saying: “Until relatively recently, Zack was living on a houseboat, which came with its own unique practical circumstances and considerations.
“He has immediately taken steps to pay any council tax he may be found to owe. For security reasons, we do not comment publicly on Zack’s address.”
This article is taken from Landlord Today