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The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, is calling on the Government to help protect London’s housing supply from being decimated by short-term lets.
It comes as it was found in July 2023, there were 81,792 listings in London on AirBnB alone1. Of these, 50,401 are for entire properties, meaning at least one in every seventy-four homes in the capital is available for short-term let.
London is one of the tourism capitals of the world and short-term lets are a key part of the visitor ecosystem. But Khan said due to a “lack of sufficient regulation” or resources for boroughs to monitor the situation, it is unclear how many may be being let against the rules for more than 90 days a year.
Therefore, the Mayor is calling on the Government to work with him and boroughs to implement a licensing system for short-term lets. This would allow local authorities to limit the numbers of licenses issued in their area and avoid entire streets or blocks being turned over exclusively to short- term lets.
For example, earlier this year it was reported that one residential block in Westminster had more than 90% of its 118 units available on short-term letting platforms6.
Khan added that charging for licences and enforcing business rates for properties let for more than 90 days a year would also generate a financial reward for councils who have seen their budgets repeatedly cut in recent years, allowing them to run more effective enforcement activity against unregistered landlords.
The Mayor’s call to action comes as part of his response to two Government consultations on the future of short-term lets. Proposals from Ministers to control the sector using planning powers or a voluntary register have both been criticised by the Mayor and boroughs for not going far enough to tackle the problem.
The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said: “I am doing all I can to tackle the housing crisis in London, building a record number of the genuinely affordable, high-quality homes that Londoners deserve.
“But these efforts will continue to be hampered by the lack of regulation in the short-term letting market. Short-term lets play an important role in London’s tourism industry, but that mustn’t come at the expense of Londoners who need a place to live. We need transparency about how many properties are being rented out for longer than the rules permit, and accountability to local authorities and residents.”
He added: “This is why I’m calling on the Government to work with me and borough councils to design a licencing system to bring some order to this rapidly growing sector and prevent us losing yet more homes for Londoners to the short-term let sector.”
