A York resident who lives on a street where he believes up to a third of the houses are short term lets has urged policymakers to address the issue urgently.
Dom Tooze says the proliferation of Airbnbs and other holiday homes can change the nature communities.
And if it carries on unchecked on his street, he might not want to live there any more.
Dom, 33, charity worker, moved into Fairfax Street in Bishophill with his partner two and a half years ago because it had a “sense of community, with easy access to green space”.
“The street is lovely, the neighbours are lovely,” he said.
Because they moved in during one of the pandemic lockdowns, they didn’t notice its short term lets at first.
“Over the months and year or two that followed, we saw the gradual increase of houses with key safes, families coming and going with giant wheelie bags, all the cleaning crews coming to sort out the houses multiple times a week.
“We had a giant car parked outside that was longer than our house is wide.
“Ourselves and our neighbours are worried about the impact on the community and the atmosphere.
“It sort of it feels like every third house is an Airbnb. I don’t know if that’s true, but that’s what it feels like.
“If you know your neighbour, it has an impact. And if your neighbour changes every three days you lose that in quite a big way.”
Big property companies
There haven’t been all-night parties like elsewhere in the city “but there has been stuff like people throwing bin bags into the street, unusual noise at odd hours, which is all a bit frustrating,” Dom said.
A proliferation of short term lets “stretches the provision of waste collection and policing and road space, which is already far too limited”, he says.
It is impossible to know for sure how many short term lets there are on Fairfax Street. But many have a key safe outside, and on the Airbnb website alone, there are several listed on the street, ranging from £111 to £187 a night.
“It’s only going to carry on growing if it’s unchecked,” Dom points out.
While he isn’t against individuals letting a room or home on Airbnb, he says many of the houses are being bought in bulk by large property businesses.
“At the moment, there’s nothing to stop these companies buying homes, because they’ve got the capital to throw around, and then just popping them all on Airbnb.
“There’s nothing to keep it in check. These big property groups have a portfolio of say 30 homes on Airbnb.
“It’s not in keeping with what I imagined the spirit of the platform was when it first came out.”
It means the price of properties is being pushed up, making it harder for people who live and work in the city to buy or rent them.
“People talk about having had to move further from the centre of York, because they just can’t keep up the cost of renting.
“Airbnb isn’t the only thing to blame for that. But I think it’s a nasty part of it.”
Nail in the coffin
Dom argues that action is needed to stop streets like his being overrun with short term lets. This might include Airbnb owners paying an extra council tax levy, along with more transparency, so people can see if they are going to move into a property neighbouring short term lets.
The issue needs to be addressed as part of York’s larger property problems, he argues – including student housing availability and the general lack of homes to rent for city workers.
“I suspect a third of houses on the street are Airbnb or other short term lets. If that changes – to half of them, or two thirds – I might not want to live there anymore.
“It might be a nail in the coffin for the community.”
In York, it is estimated that there are more than 2,000 properties listed as short-term rentals, 85% of which are for entire homes – while almost 1,000 people in the city are on the council’s list waiting for a home.
At the moment City of York Council has virtually no powers to curb Airbnbs owners, save to ask them to tell their guests to be considerate to their neighbours.
York Central MP Rachael Maskell was so concerned about the unchecked influence of Airbnb she introduced a Private Members Bill in Parliament to regulate short term lets.
That has helped to prompt the government to start a consultation on changes that would see people having to get planning permission to turn a property into a short term let along with a new registration scheme.
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