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Landlords Can Now See How Much More Rent They Could Make Through Airbnb
This article is an external press release originally published on the Landlord News website, which has now been migrated to the Just Landlords blog.
A new rent calculator directly compares traditional rental yields to short-term holiday let yields in a range of UK cities, but many are concerned that this will negatively affect the PRS.
The calculator, launched by blinds specialist Thomas Sanderson, is based on landlords surveys, and will make it easier for landlords to make the comparison between letting their properties as normal, or switching to holiday lets.
ARLA Propertymark estimates that as many as half a million homes in the private rental sector (PRS) could soon be switched to holiday or short-term lets, and they say that it’s mainly due to tax and legislative changes in the industry.
The study, which looks at the scale of Great Britain’s short-term lets sector and the wider implications on the PRS, also shows that 16% of adults have let out all, or part, of their property at least once in the last two years – equating to 8.2 million people.
This suggests 4.5 million properties, the equivalent of 19% of the UK’s housing stock, have been used for short-term lets, which works out at 24.2 million properties.
One worry is that tenants will struggle to find property to rent if the choice and availability continues to shrink at such a rate.
Cllr Jacqueline O’Quinn of Brighton & Hove City Council, commented: “I find this type of online [Airbnb rental calculator] tool deeply disturbing as it means taking rentals out of the long-term rental market and making them short-term i.e. holiday lets.
“This means depriving families of rentals in the city and depriving those who work in the city of somewhere they can live.
“This has a negative impact on the city as we need to be able to offer long-term accommodation to those who live and work here.”
