A new law designed to stop short-term lets “hollowing out” communities has been criticised by York MP Rachael Maskell
It would require people letting out their property as a short-term holiday home to seek permission from the local authority under a new “use” category.
And a mandatory national register would be set up providing councils with information on short-term lets in their area.
Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, acknowledged that the explosion of Airbnb meant that “too many local families and young people feel they are being shut out of the housing market”.
The new law “will allow local communities to take back control and strike the right balance between protecting the visitor economy and ensuring local people get the homes they need”.
Ms Maskell, the Labour MP for York Central, put forward her own bill to stop Airbnb “exploiting York’s housing supply”.
She said Mr Gove’s measures “do not go nearly far enough, and are way too late” – and could make things worse in York.
“The changes announced today, will not bring any of the hundreds of thousands of lost homes back, instead the new rules will reinforce their holiday-let status by automatically granting them retrospective planning permission,” Ms Maskell said.
“In many areas, this means the horse has well and truly bolted, and today the government confirmed it plans to do absolutely nothing to get it back.”
Flurry of new lets
She said the new planning application process was unlikely to be enforced in many areas.
“Owners are actually being given the automatic right to flip homes to holiday lets without seeking permission, unless local authorities have actually managed to introduce restrictions – which itself could be a long, costly and uncertain process.
“This is completely out of step with where people are on this issue. There is also now a huge risk that, in hotspots like York, there will now be a flurry of new holiday lets, as investors scramble to snap up remaining properties before controls come into force.”
Under Mr Gove’s rules, only homes being let out for 90-days or more would be affected. “This will make the new rules extremely difficult and expensive for local authorities to enforce, and is likely to set out to fail.
“The proposals will do little to address the housing crisis in places like York where over 2,000 properties are short term holiday lets, when we’ve got hundreds and hundreds of families on our housing waiting list and local workers increasingly finding themselves priced out of the city.
“It is clear that this government are out of ideas and of touch with the impact they are having on people living in places like York.”
Lose hundreds of homes
City of York Council executive member for planning, Cllr Michael Pavlovic, said: “The government’s creation of permitted development rights – rights that will allow a switch from residential home to short-term let – is exactly what we were hoping the government would control rather than facilitate.
“The process to remove these rights and have councils decide based on local factors will be arduous and long.
“By that time York could have lost hundreds more family homes to the short-term let market.
“We also have concerns about enforcement capacity in challenging landlords who exceed the 90-day maximum letting period where they have no short-term let planning permission.
“Uncontrolled short term holiday lets, as the government recognises, leads to the hollowing out of local communities. There is now likely to be a flurry of homes being flipped before these changes are made, further exacerbating the problem.”
Amanda Cupples, Airbnb general manager for northern Europe, said: “The introduction of a short-term lets register is good news for everyone.
“Families who host on Airbnb will benefit from clear rules that support their activity, and local authorities will get access to the information they need to assess and manage housing impacts and keep communities healthy, where necessary.
“We have long led calls for the introduction of a host register and we look forward to working together to make it a success.”