Registration and planning consent needed for holiday lets

Registration and planning consent needed for holiday lets

11:24 AM, 13th April 2023, About 2 years ago 5

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A consultation has been launched by the government to protect the UK’s ‘cherished towns’ that will see holiday homeowners being forced to get planning permission for letting their property and if it is in England, it will need to be registered.

The move will mean that landlords with holiday homes in tourist hotspots will be blocked from listing them on various platforms such as Airbnb.

The plans have been revealed by the Levelling up secretary Michael Gove who said: “Tourism brings many benefits to our economy but in too many communities we have seen local people pushed out of cherished towns, cities and villages by huge numbers of short-term lets.

“I’m determined that we ensure that more people have access to local homes at affordable prices, and that we prioritise families desperate to rent or buy a home of their own close to where they work.”

He added: “I have listened to representations from MPs in tourist hot spots and am pleased to launch this consultation to introduce a requirement for planning permissions for short term lets.”

Plans will help strengthen the tourism sector

The government says that its plans will help strengthen the tourism sector and the introduction of planning permission for an existing property to be used as a short-term let will help local people in those areas where high numbers of holiday homes prevent them from finding an affordable home.

The consultation will also look at whether the owner should have flexibility for letting a property for a specified number of nights per year without needing planning permission.

The consultation on introducing planning permission for holiday homes comes after the Department for Culture, Media and Sport unveiled a separate consultation that would mean short-term lets in England would have to join a new registration scheme.

The aim of the scheme is to illustrate how many short-term lets there are in the country, where they are and understand how they are impacting local communities.

‘Should not come at the expense of local people’

The culture secretary, Lucy Frazer, said: “This new world of ultra-flexible short term lets gives tourists more choice than ever before, but it should not come at the expense of local people being able to own their own home and stay local.

“The Government wants to help areas get the balance right, and today we have an incomplete picture of the size and spread of our short term lets market.”

She added: “This consultation on a national registration scheme will give us the data we need to assess the position and enable us to address the concerns communities face.”

The government says it is responding to complaints from people living in tourist hotspots that they are being priced out of homes to buy or rent and help provide more affordable housing, so they continue living and working in the place they call home.


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Judith Wordsworth

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13:02 PM, 13th April 2023, About 2 years ago

It's not just holiday lets it. The proposed mandatory registration and licensing and planning permission is for reasonably priced short-term accommodation, in hosts homes or in self-contained units, often used by actors, musicians, film/stage crew when on tour and contractors on short-term contracts.
Many of these professionals, who don't necessarily have per diems that cover the full costs of short-term accommodation, will no longer find it viable to accept touring roles.
Not only is the scheme proposing a registration fee but also an annual licence.
This is not "levelling up" but "levelling down" for many!

Reluctant Landlord

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17:43 PM, 14th April 2023, About 2 years ago

buggering up more like!

Gary Dully

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8:51 AM, 15th April 2023, About 2 years ago

What Gove means in politician speak is … we have discovered a section of an industry that has become successful and outsmarted our closed shop of Tory backers!
(Large hotel chains and multi billion pound corporations)
So we intend to screw the lid down on anyone with the audacity to become successful, by regulating it to death and taxing it.
God forbid that one in 200 properties might be cheaper to use than a corporate chicken coup, coloured in purple and cream!
How dare you not be a millionaire and pay some dues to me!
That’s what Goves consulting boils down to.

They will do the same to Uber vs Black cabs, Amazon vs the small shop.

STL is controlled by its success of offering what the public was looking for, cheap, cheerful and clean.

KD South East

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11:08 AM, 16th April 2023, About 2 years ago

Oh wow. The scope of the consultation is wide ranging and does include letting rooms in own homes, and possible restrictions and licensing for how people can let out their primary property.
Whilst there may be some benefits to some areas of licensing etc, it's a step too far to infringe on personal property.

I'm also concerned that the large new 'build to rent' blocks that are popping up all over the place will be able to apply to do short term lets. This will completely scupper most other short term, holiday lets, Airbnbs, and lodgings in people's homes. And I am sure that isn't what was intended when they were given planning permission by the local council. They were intended to provide long term lets for the 'housing crisis'.
There are 485 of these units just round the corner from me (not flats, basically studios) that have shared lounges, gyms etc, and several other blocks across the city, some built for students. The developers and corporate backers obviously know that short term lets are more lucrative and less risky than having tenants. If this is allowed they will corner the 'holiday' and overseas students market and risks collapsing even hotels and traditional B&B's as well as all other small scale short term lets.

Lastly there's no acceptance that the govt have caused this move to short term lets, due to the difficulties in getting rid of long term tenants who don't pay the rent or cause other problems

Duncan McFadyen

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20:38 PM, 17th April 2023, About 2 years ago

The Govt also encouraged the move to short term rentals by the s24 tax rules, which don't apply to holiday lets.

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