Regulating Airbnb - MP claims cross-party backing for clampdown

Labour MP Rachael Maskell says she has won the support of 10 other members of parliament from across the political divide for her latest attempt to regulate Airbnb and other short let platforms.

Maskell is launching her Airbnb and Holidays Lets Licensing clause via an amendment to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill in the House of Commons. If it became law it would require Airbnb or short-term let holiday properties to be licensed, and would enable councils to limit or deny licenses in areas with an acute shortage of housing for local people. 

In York, where Maskell is MP, it is estimated that there are more than 2,000 properties listed as short-term rentals, 85 per cent of which are for entire homes rather than annexes or individual rooms. 

She has told local news services: “Failure to act on this issue is adding to the daily misery of families who can’t find a home and are finding themselves forced out of their local areas, as housing supply tightens and rents …

“ … We know that in some tourist hotspots over 50 per cent of homes are now short term holiday lets, and there are little signs of this slowing down. 

“We urgently need to get a grip on this situation before it is too late, but all we get out of the Government is consultation and prevarication. 

“As things stand, in a city like York where there is so much planned development, there is a real risk that investors will flip most new homes straight to short term lets.

“And despite the city of York’s eye-watering investment in the site, York Central will just become another Airbnb Central.   

“Talking to constituents, I also know the concentration of these properties in some communities is causing serious misery and disruption, and yet as things stand local people are powerless to do anything about it.”

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