Zack Polanski is a Green Party politician on London's city-wide assembly. On BBC Breakfast in early July 2026, he said he will pay any council tax bill he is found to owe on his houseboat — but stressed that it is not yet clear whether he actually owes anything at all.

Polanski has lived on a mooring in east London for three years. Waltham Forest Council says he might owe between £3,000 and £4,000 in council tax, but the council is still taking legal advice on the question because of what it calls "complex factors unique to moorings." In simple terms: working out what residents on boats should pay is genuinely complicated.

Polanski's explanation is that the marina where his boat sits is taxed mostly as a business property, not a residential one. He believed his own mooring was covered by those business taxes and that he did not have to pay separate council tax. He says the council had suggested the same thing. "It's complicated," he told the BBC — and Waltham Forest's own caution seems to agree.

The story began in May. The Telegraph reported on 12 May 2026 that Polanski had been referred to a standards committee over the non-payment. Waltham Forest then launched a formal investigation. The Guardian reported on 23 May that London's assembly was also considering looking into the matter. The assembly has since cleared him.

In May, another issue came up: Polanski had not voted in local elections even though he was registered at the marina. People also questioned a message he sent to a mayoral candidate saying "you have my vote." This strand has not been formally resolved, though it is a separate legal question from the council tax issue.

The Green Party's position has been consistent: Polanski apologised and committed to paying whatever bill he is finally found to owe. In practice, this is an offer to pay a sum that may turn out to be nothing. The difficulty is that a senior Green politician — whose party is known for transparency and civic responsibility — went three years without paying council tax on his home, whether by mistake or otherwise.

The broader context matters here. Westminster parties expect and handle personal tax disclosures as a routine matter. The Green Party, which partly defines itself against the habits of traditional politics, faces higher public expectations when it comes to members' personal finances.

The legal question Waltham Forest is working through is real. How boat residents should be taxed sits in genuinely uncertain legal territory. If the council concludes that the business rates on the marina do cover Polanski's mooring, his substantive position would be vindicated. The damage from three years of uncertainty, however, would not simply disappear.