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Camden Council Accuses Airbnb of Rising Rents and Reducing Supply
This article is an external press release originally published on the Landlord News website, which has now been migrated to the Just Landlords blog.
Camden Council has accused holiday lets websites, such as Airbnb, of driving up rents and making it harder for people in the area to find somewhere to live.
Camden Council Accuses Airbnb of Rising Rents and Reducing Supply
The Inside Airbnb website has previously criticised Airbnb for similar effects on the New York housing market. It has now reported that there were over 1,400 listings for Camden out of a total of 18,436 for London.
Leader of Camden Council, councillor Sarah Hayward, says: “With thousands of London families in need of a home, we need to strongly resist the growing market for short-stay lets of homes in areas like Camden, as we know these will reduce the options available for normal Londoners looking for somewhere affordable to live.
“Whilst in boroughs like Camden we’re doing what we can to alleviate the housing crisis, building 3,050 new homes over 15 years, more families than ever before are dependent on renting their home privately from a landlord.”
More than a third of people in Camden rely on the private rental sector for accommodation. Under the Government’s Deregulation Act, Londoners can use short-term lettings sites, like Airbnb, on their residential property with a limit of 90 days a year.
However, it is difficult for local authorities to prove that a property has been let out for over 90 days.
Hayward continues: “The Government’s 90-day rule solution is inadequate as it can’t be properly enforced. We need tougher measures to help stabilise this growing problem.
“Let me be clear: This is not about private tenants and homeowners who rent out their spare rooms to bring in some extra cash to pay the mortgage or rent, but we are seriously concerned at the expansion of this market through deregulation and the growth of sites such as Airbnb using London homes like hotels, which is reducing our badly-needed private rented sector supply.”1
Local residents are increasingly complaining about noise and other anti-social behaviour in short-term lets, the Council also revealed.
