Restrictions to the short-term letting of whole residential properties could be on the cards if a Labour Party proposal is adopted by Government, and the idea has been backed by councillors in Bath.
The proposal would help to address widespread concern about the impact of home-sharing services on the housing market in Bath.
It would mean that a property could only be used for short term lettings on platforms like AirBnB for a maximum of 90 days each year without planning permission.
Sharon Gillings, Labour candidate for Kingsmead ward, said: “Homesharing services such as Airbnb are often attractive to tourists and they provide direct income to host households.
“However, both the Government and B&NES Council have been slow to keep up with the growth in these services and the impact they have had both on the housing market and on amenity issues for neighbours.
“In B&NES, we are experiencing a housing crisis and yet at the same time we are seeing properties removed from the private rental market at an alarming rate as the earnings from short-terms lettings can prove irresistible to landlords.
“We need to find effective solutions which allow legitimate home-sharing to continue whilst at the same time curbing the growing professionalised sector which seeks to abuse the system.
“This is a pressing problem and the time to act is now.
“Recent changes to legislation limit the short-term letting of whole residential properties to 90 days in a calendar year in London. This means that properties cannot be used as temporary sleeping accommodation on a permanent basis without first getting planning permission.
“We would like Bath to be able to benefit from the same change in legislation and at the same time we wish to see lessons learnt from the London experience with additional measures that would help with enforcing any new law.
“Labour councillors will be putting a motion to Council in July seeking the legislative changes that would be required to address this issue.”
