In Britain’s holiday hotspots, landlords are taking homes and turning them into hotels.  

Since the emergence of Airbnb and similar platforms, the number of properties being let out on a short term basis has exploded. Between 2021 and 2022, 29 homes a day became second homes or commercial holiday lets, taking homes away from locals who need somewhere to live.

The trend is concentrated in just a handful of places: 80% of the growth in holiday homes between 2019 and 2022 has happened in just 25 local council areas.

This is reducing the number of homes available to live in and pushing up rents.

Part of the reason is because holiday lets face very little regulation. Some landlords are even switching from tenants to tourists for an easier life.

The last government proposed to introduce a registration scheme for holiday lets and require them to get planning permission. While this might help stop the leakage of homes into the tourist sector, it will do nothing about the thousands of homes that have already been lost.

Instead, the new government should give English councils powers to require holiday lets to join a licensing scheme, and put limits on their number in areas that have particularly bad housing affordability problems.

Alongside building more and removing tax breaks, this will help make sure the tourist economy continues to thrive while locals can continue working in it or living in the places where they grew up.