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Zack Polanski has been forced to apologise over council tax after evidence pointed to a houseboat being his main home - and the deprived London borough in question has just returned its first Green council.

It is the latest blow for the Green leader, who has already had to retract a claim that he was a British Red Cross spokesperson. He has also faced criticism over his response to a terror attack on Jewish people in Golders Green, with his poll ratings dropping sharply in the aftermath.

Late on Monday, a Green Party spokesman issued a statement: "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. Zack apologises sincerely for the unintentional mistake."

The statement added: "For security reasons, we do not comment publicly on Zack's address. There have recently been two serious incidents which have been reported to the police and are under investigation."

The focus on his living arrangements was sharpened by an online listing seen by The Times for the boat in which his partner wrote: "We are moving to a house and so will sadly be leaving the gorgeous community behind."

Tax expert Dan Neidle concluded in a blog post on Monday that the evidence "suggests to us that the boat was Mr Polanski's main residence."

Neidle added: "If, as seems likely, that was his main residence, then Mr Polanski and his partner should have paid council tax there - but they didn't. Mr Polanski's team says he only stayed at the boat 'occasionally' - but if that's true, then registering to vote at the bungalow may have been a criminal offence."

Polanski's team told The Times this week that he lodged at a separate address and visited the boat only from time to time, while acknowledging he used a building beside the marina - his registered voting address - to pick up post.

A Green Party spokesman said: "Zack's council tax is included in the rent he pays his landlord. We don't comment on Zack's residential arrangements for security reasons."

A separate claim reported by The Daily Telegraph on Sunday - that Polanski had described himself as working at the Ministry of Justice on training and diversity programmes - was denied by the department, which said it had no record of his employment.

A Green Party spokesman said Polanski had been hired through a third-party agency called Kreate - which describes itself as an "experiential activation and event staffing agency" - to provide actors for role-playing scenarios to the Judicial Appointments Commission, a non-departmental government body.

"Zack worked inside the Ministry of Justice as an actor role-playing on the Judicial Appointments Commission. He was based at Clive House, Petty France in the MoJ. This is a pattern of the Telegraph scraping the barrel once again," the spokesman said.

Polanski took charge of the party in England and Wales last September. The mounting controversies have not yet dented the Greens' electoral performance - the party came second nationally on vote share in last week's local elections, according to BBC projections.

The Express reached out to the Green Party for further comment via email.