Asked by: Baroness Gardner of Parkes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that local authorities are aware which properties in their areas are being offered for short-term or holiday lets.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Individual leases and tenancy agreements are a matter for landlords and tenants. Where permission under the contract is required to sub-let but is not obtained then landlords have legal routes to enforce the contract.
Where short term lets breach planning control, responsibility for enforcement lies with local authorities, who already have numerous legislative powers to take action. We do not intend to introduce new legislation to require a short term lets register. Instead, the Government is taking a non-regulatory approach by encouraging the Short Term Accommodation Association to drive up standards and promote best practice in the industry, and to share data on booking with local authorities to aid their enforcement and monitoring functions.
Asked by: Baroness Gardner of Parkes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, following recent actions by Palma and Valencia to ban the use of apartments as short-term holiday lets, what assessment they have made of the need for similar action in the UK.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
There are no plans to ban the use of residential properties for short term letting.
The Government supports the sharing economy. Short term lettings enable households to supplement their income by renting out their under used accommodation and it promotes economic growth from tourism by increasing the amount of competitively priced accommodation available for tourists.
There is a responsibility on people who short term let out their homes, or rooms in their homes, to do so responsibly. Where short term lets breach the rules, responsibility for enforcement lies with the local authority, as it does for any breaches of planning control, and householders who breach the rules potentially face significant fines.
We are taking a non-regulatory approach by encouraging the Short Term Accommodation Association to improve standards and promote best practice in the industry, and to share data on booking with local authorities to aid their enforcement and monitoring functions.
Introducing further legislation would be overly bureaucratic, and would place unnecessary regulatory burdens on households which could act as a barrier to letting out their properties on a short term basis.
Asked by: Baroness Gardner of Parkes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of (1) the rate of return available from short-term lets, and (2) current advertising encouraging short-term lets on the basis of increased returns of 30 per cent, on the availability of long-term residential accommodation in England.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Government has not made an assessment of the impact of the rate of return for short term lets nor the impact of the current advertising campaign on the availability of long term accommodation in England. We believe that it is for local authorities to assess the impact within their area. The Government does however monitor broader trends in private rented housing through the English Housing Survey.
Asked by: Baroness Gardner of Parkes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 20 February (HL5532), what input the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has had into their Call for Evidence on Protecting consumers in the letting and managing agent market; and whether the MoJ is conducting a review of the operation of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002, in particular the possibility of giving a Right to Manage Board the power of forfeiture, when all other legal efforts to recover the monies owing have failed.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The call for evidence on 'Protecting consumers in the letting and managing agent market' closed on 29 November and the responses are currently being analysed. An announcement will be made in due course. Any considerations regarding the Commonhold and Leasehold reform Act 2002 will be dependent on the outcome of the forthcoming announcement.
Asked by: Baroness Gardner of Parkes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to consult local authorities on the re-introduction of a licensing system similar to that operating in London until the Deregulation Act 2015 came into force, to ensure that there is a record of short-term occupants of properties.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
We have no plans to do this. Local Authorities already have powers to act where there is a breach of planning control in respect of short term lettings.
Requiring hosts to register with their local authority an intention to let their property on a short term basis would be overly bureaucratic, and would place unnecessary regulatory burdens on households. However, some accommodation providers have already restricted bookings to 90 nights per calendar year in London. We have asked the industry association to encourage their other members to adopt this good practice.
Asked by: Baroness Gardner of Parkes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 28 September 2017 (HL1597), what plans they have to consult local authorities on the case for a register of short-term holiday let tenants.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
We have no such plans.
Asked by: Baroness Gardner of Parkes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to review the operation of Chapter 1 of Part 2 of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 in respect of the ability of those exercising the right to manage premises to meet their obligations to manage by applying to the head lessee to allow them to pursue forfeiture of those premises following a court judgment which is unable to be enforced by any legal means presently available to them.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Government's Call for Evidence, 'Protecting consumers in the letting and managing agent market', which closed on 29 November 2017, included a question on how it can be made easier for leaseholders to exercise their right to manage. Any changes as a result of the findings to this question may have an impact on the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002. An announcement will be made in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Gardner of Parkes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 25 September 2017 (HL1596), how many London boroughs have sought authority to make a direction to remove the freedom to short-term let for 90 nights from properties in the last year; (1) on how many occasions, (2) in respect of how many properties, and (3) with what outcomes, such authority was sought; what process is available to long-term residential tenants to request that their borough commence that procedure; what obligation boroughs have to respond to any such request; and what efforts they have made to ensure London boroughs are aware of this procedure and have made information about it available to long-term residential tenants.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Under section 25B of the of the Greater London Council (General Powers) Act 1973, a local authority can seek Secretary of State’s consent to issue a direction that the right to short-term let without planning permission for up to 90 nights in a year is not to apply to particular residential properties or to residential premises situated in a specified area. No London borough has sought a consent in the last year.
Directions may only be given if it is necessary to protect the amenity of the locality. This is likely to be where there has been successful action against a statutory nuisance related to short-term letting; or there has been successful enforcement action against a breach of section 25 or 25A of the 1973 Act. If residents consider there are circumstances that would meet the criteria this can be raised with the relevant Borough. These criteria for giving a Direction are set out in the Planning Practice Guidance on the Gov.UK website https://www.gov.uk/guidance/when-is-permission-required Paragraph: 111 Reference ID: 13-111-20160519.
Asked by: Baroness Gardner of Parkes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government for how many nights in a year a one bedroom property can be rented out on short-term lets without any application for planning permission being made.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Section 25 of the Greater London Council (General Powers) Act 1973, as amended by section 44 of the Deregulation Act 2015 allows properties in London, which are liable for council tax, to be let out on a short-term basis for a maximum of 90 nights per calendar year without this being considered a material change of use for which planning permission is required (see section 25A of the 1973 Act). If these criteria are not met planning permission is required.
Asked by: Baroness Gardner of Parkes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 2 January (HL4357), what steps they are taking to gather information about how many properties are being used for short-term holiday lets in London; and of those properties already identified, how many are (1) previously long-term rental units, and (2) one bedroom properties.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Government does not gather information on how many properties are being used for short-term holiday lets in London. Although it does not hold specific information on short-term holiday lets, it does monitor broader trends in private rented housing through the English Housing Survey. We do not have an estimate of those long-term rental units in London that have changed to or are additionally used for short term or holiday lets in the last five years.