Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many full-time equivalent staff will be needed to enforce the short-term lets database.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Detailed operational requirements, including staffing levels, are being determined as part of the development process.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of using artificial intelligence in the regulatory process for short-term lets.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is committed to being at the forefront of artificial intelligence innovation across public services and regulatory processes. Decisions about which technologies, including potential AI applications, will best support the Short Term Lets registration scheme's effectiveness are being determined during the design phase. Any specific assessment of AI applications in the registration process would be a matter for DCMS as the lead department for this policy area. Public testing on the register is due to start later in 2025 and a full version of the scheme in 2026.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to her Department's consultation outcome entitled Consultation on a registration scheme for short-term lets in England, updated on 19 July 2024, when she will publish a full response to the consultation.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
DCMS has commenced the second phase of digital development, with public testing due to start in September. The full consultation response will be published alongside the necessary secondary legislation.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate her Department has made of the tax revenue from ensuring compliance with rules on eligibility of short-term lets for business rates.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Before a short-term let can be assessed as a self-catering accommodation (short-term let) for business rates purposes it must have been available to let for at least 140 days in the past year and demonstrate at least 70 days of actual letting activity in the last year.
It is for local authorities to bill and collect business rates. The government does not make an estimate of the number of short-term lets who choose not to be assessed for business rates or do not meet these criteria. However, the government does collect data on the number of short-term lets assessed for business rates. The latest available data from March 2025 shows that there are 65,380 short-term lets assessed for business rates in England.
Where a property does not meet these criteria, it will usually be considered domestic, and liable for council tax in the same way as any other domestic property.