Croydon South MP Richard Ottaway has defended his "entitlement" to maintain a second home using taxpayers' money.

His views were voiced after an investigation revealed that 43 MPs claim an additional costs allowance (ACA) at the same time as earning rent from other properties.

The £22,000 allowance lets MPs buy two homes in London - or in their constituency - and rent the first out while taxpayers fund the mortgage on the second, a national newspaper reported.

Alternatively, some MPs have two properties in London, one of which is rented out, and claim the ACA on their constituency home.

Conservative MP Mr Ottaway claimed £21,000 in ACA last year.

He also received rental income from a residential flat in London.

He told the Mail on Sunday: "I own two flats in the middle of London. I live in one and rent the other out. Is that a corruptive state of affairs? I am taking up my entitlement. I'm not arguing fairness. This is the deal. As an MP you can claim the cost of drivig to your constituency and get additional costs for maintaining two homes. We inherited these rules. You cannot point the finger at exisiting MPs saying they have set them up."

He added that MPs' salaries are "pretty low to mid-range".

Also on the Mail on Sunday's list was Conservative Epsom and Ewell MP Chris Grayling, who claimed £19,618 in housing allowance and earned rent from two terraced houses in South Wimbledon.

He told yourlocalguardian.co.uk that his two investment properties were "utterly and completely unrelated" to his job as an MP.

Mr Grayling said he bought the South Wimbledon homes with a buy-to-let mortgage in the late 1990s, before he became an MP, and has never lived in them.

He uses his housing allowance to maintain a "small studio flat" near the House of Commons, where he sometimes sleeps after a 14-hour day's work.