Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has called on the government to bring in a licensing system for short-term lets in a bid to protect the capital’s housing supply.
More than 80,000 properties are listed on AirBnB alone – 50,401 of these are entire properties – which Khan says is exacerbating London’s housing crisis by pushing up rents.
It isn’t clear how many are being let for more than 90 days a year due to a lack of regulation or resources for local authorities, he says. A licensing system would allow them to limit the numbers of licenses issued in their area and avoid entire streets or blocks being turned over exclusively to short- term lets.
Generate cash
Charging for licences and enforcing business rates for properties let for more than 90 days would generate cash for councils, allowing them to run more effective enforcement activity against unregistered landlords.
Khan also wants ministers to back his call for new legislation requiring short-term lets platforms to share data with local and national government so decision makers can better understand how the sector is impacting the housing supply and local residents.
Adds Khan: “We need transparency about how many properties are being rented out for longer than the rules permit, and accountability to local authorities and residents.”
Last year, Camden Council recorded more than 4,400 short-term lets in the borough, of which 24% exceeded the 90-night limit. Leader Georgia Gould adds: “There are simply no meaningful consequences to deter people from breaching the current legislation and landlords regularly use avoidance tactics to bypass the rules.”
The mayor’s call to action comes as part of his response to a government consultation on introducing a registration scheme for short-term lets in England.
Read more about Airbnb and short lets regulation.
