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.
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.