Belfast City Council is reviewing its processes in response to a watchdog probe into a councillor failing to declare his property interests.
It follows a local government standards commissioner report examining the conduct of former SDLP councillor Declan Boyle.
The landlord, who manages dozens of student lets in South Belfast's Holylands area, was censured for not declaring his personal interests during council meetings that discussed improvements for areas where he had properties.
Read more: Censured former Belfast councillor finally declares how many Holylands HMOs he owns
The watchdog examined complaints including concerns in 2016 that Mr Boyle had not declared his interests when chairing a committee that approved an £80,000 grant for the Holylands.
It found "serious breaches" of the code of conduct and said that had Mr Boyle still been a serving councillor, he would have been suspended.
The report detailed several occasions when city hall officials advised Mr Boyle that he did not need to declare his property interests and could remain in meetings.
It was also noted how then solicitor John Walsh, now council chief executive, had claimed in a Freedom of Information response that Mr Boyle had received permission for a vague entry in his register of interests.
Mr Boyle had simply written "various properties in Belfast" in the register after being granted an exemption from declaring some details by former chief executive Suzanne Wylie.
But it emerged that Ms Wylie had asked Mr Boyle to disclose his interests for a "defined geographic area of the city".
The advice from council officials contributed to Mr Boyle having an "honestly held" but "mistaken" view that his actions complied with the code of conduct, his representatives argued.
It took the council four months to respond to press queries about the watchdog report, which was released in early March.
In a statement a council spokeswoman told Belfast Live: "We are reviewing processes in relation to working groups, committees and conflicts of interest."
She added: "We note the contents of the commissioner's report. If any changes are required to our current processes, a report will be brought to members for consideration."
Mr Boyle was elected to Belfast City Council in 2014 but lost his seat in the 2019 local government election.
He was among three SDLP councillors who quit the party in 2017 in a row over a council vote on abortion. All three failed to be re-elected as independents.
Housing campaigners Catu Belfast described the council's delayed response to the watchdog report as "inadequate".
Green Party councillor Aine Groogan said the council must "take stock" of the report to ensure that the public have confidence in decisions being made by the local authority.
She said: "These sort of reports are damaging to the reputation of all councillors. It doesn't do anything to build confidence in elected representatives. It is important that council does look at it and see if there is anything that we can do.
"It is only right that if there are mistakes made in the past we should learn from that."
She added: "I know as councillors we are constantly advised that it's up to us as elected representatives that we are compliant with the code of conduct.
"But that being said there may have been mistakes made in the past. I think it's only right that we take stock of it."
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