Government plans to tackle holiday lets ‘must go further’, say Generation Rent

Yesterday, the UK Government announced measures to combat the proliferation of short term lets, which have been driving up rents and forcing people out of their communities.

• Planning permission will be required for future short-term lets.
• Mandatory national register will provide valuable information and help ensure accommodation is safe.
• Homeowners can continue to let out their own main or sole home for up to 90 nights a year.

Our research previously found that 29 long-term homes a day are lost to holiday lets, which the government has said is “hollowing out” communities across the country.

Over 35,000 homes have become holiday homes or short term lets since 2019, but the government is proposing to automatically grant these properties permission to remain as holiday lets.

Families are being driven out of their communities by the disastrous loss of homes into holiday lets, with over 35,000 privately rented homes lost to Airbnb-style short term lets since 2019. We have been calling for government action on this issue to keep renters in our communities and we are pleased that a registration scheme will finally be introduced to monitor the use of these properties.

However, there is significant doubt as to whether changes to the planning system would be enforceable and not enough is being done to reverse recent trends. Proposals to allow existing short term lets to automatically gain permission to continue risks shutting the stable door once the horse has bolted. Meanwhile, if the planning system is the only way to reverse recent conversions, then it could be uneconomic to bring homes back into long-term tenancies or even trigger a rush of further holiday let registrations before government changes come into effect.

The government must go further and introduce local holiday let licensing schemes, which could give councils proper oversight of how many homes in their area can be let out as short term lets based on local need. This should include local caps on the number of holiday lets that can operate, along with tax changes that take mortgage interest relief away from holiday lets. If the government doesn’t give local councils the powers they need to protect the supply of rented homes, then people will continue to be denied somewhere they can afford in the place they call home.

Between September 2022 and September 2023, second homes grew by 6405. Per day total is 28, slightly down on 2021-22

Biggest increases 2022-23 (Holiday homes tab):