The BBC and the Daily Mail are reporting that Chancellor Rachel Reeves has admitted unlawfully renting out her family home without a licence.

The BBC says Reeves has told Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, as well as the independent ethics adviser and Parliament’s standards commissioner of the error.

Reeves rented out her Southwark home after moving into a flat in Downing Street after last year’s election win.

It is understood the Chancellor used a letting agency but was not told the house was in an area that needed a “selective licence” to rent the property.

A spokesperson for Reeves said it was an “inadvertent mistake” and she has now applied for a licence. 

The Reeves family home in south London was let after Labour won the General Election in July 2024 for £3,200 a month. It is in an area where Southwark council requires private landlords to hold a selective licence. 

The council’s website states: “You can be prosecuted or fined if you’re a landlord or managing agent for a property that needs a licence and do not get one.”

A spokesperson for Rachel Reeves is quoted by the BBC as saying: “Since becoming chancellor Rachel Reeves has rented out her family home through a lettings agency. She had not been made aware of the licencing requirement, but as soon as it was brought to her attention she took immediate action and has applied for the licence.

“This was an inadvertent mistake and in the spirit of transparency she has made the prime minister, the Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards and the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards aware.”