Doncaster council has paid £100,000 to a private landlord who threatened to take it to court over alleged slander. 

Local media outlets say Rod Bloor claimed the council had made unfounded remarks about his honesty to people who were looking to use his services to rent property.

According to the Doncaster Free Press the authority has agreed a statement confirming Bloor’s honesty, as well as paying out the £100,000 towards his legal costs. 

It says the council says it does not yet know the extent of its own legal costs over the case and denies any wrongdoing. 

Bloor says that in the past he has provided hundreds of homes to vulnerable people at the request of the authority, but that his relationship with the council deteriorated after he had won an appeal over council tax payments, after changes to housing benefit regulations.

At that point Bloor was allegedly the subject of slanderous statements by council officers, prompting the legal action.

The news outlet says the case was withdrawn at the 11th hour after an agreed statement: “[Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council] DMBC is able to confirm that any allegation Mr Bloor was untrustworthy, dishonest or had fabricated documents, would be false. DMBC and Mr Bloor are pleased to confirm that this action has now been concluded to the satisfaction of both parties.”

You can read the full local news story here.