Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality, has backed Mr Gove’s proposals. Mr Lomas said the company was not against regulation but said there needed to be a “balance between protecting housing and supporting families who rent their space.” It comes amid concerns that local councils will take a blanket approach that will see small-time landlords unfairly denied planning permission. “But there is a phenomenon, and it does occur in coastal areas, and in some of our most attractive tourist areas, where you will have institutions buying up properties, and then having them in almost permanent Airbnb setting.”Īirbnb is expected to propose data sharing between private sector booking platforms on how often properties are let, which would allow councils to sort between full-time rental properties and part-time holiday lets. He said: “We're not saying that people shouldn't be able, when they themselves are on holiday or away for business, to let out their home through Airbnb. The Housing Secretary said the spread of holiday homes was turning coastal towns into an “almost permanent Airbnb setting” during an interview with The Telegraph last month.ĭefending proposals that will heap extra red tape on second-home owners, the Housing Secretary insisted that “the issue there is a simple one of fairness”.

Mr Gove has justified his crackdown on the holiday home industry by specifically calling out Airbnb.

Meanwhile, fears are growing that the lack of coherent housing policy ahead of the next general election could have disastrous consequences for the Conservative party at the ballot box.

Middlesbrough South MP, Simon Clarke, Mr Gove’s predecessor as housing secretary under Liz Truss, has labelled the holiday let crackdown “anti-business”. It comes amid a growing backlash to the Housing Secretary’s approach to the property sector, including criticism from his own Conservative backbenchers. And there is a danger that those properties would be counted as a dedicated holiday home.”Īirbnb is expected to finalise its views in an official response to the Government consultations in the coming days in the hope that it can force Mr Gove to backtrack on the more draconian elements of his plans. “You may have communities where there's a large number of people who are renting out their home for a couple of weeks a year. Mr Lomas said: “We have a concern that you get into a situation where local authorities will be making interventions… and you end up with unintended consequences. He warned that current proposals could unfairly punish part-time landlords who rent rooms or their homes for only a few weeks a year by treating all rentals as the same. Theo Lomas, Airbnb public policy chief, said that Mr Gove’s proposals “aren't that dissimilar to the approach Wales has taken” under Labour first minister Mark Drakeford.

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