Short-term lettings in London

I believe short term letting has led to an increase in local area deterioration, e.g. mattresses and other rubbish on the street, people not taking care of the local area generally. There has been too much “buy to let” going on, forcing up the cost of housing and the deterioration of local communities because people stay for short periods only and therefore make no investment in the local area. Those who buy to rent are merely exploiting others and the local area.

There's a housing crisis in London, which will only be made worse by an increase in short-term lets such as those peddled by platforms like Airbnb. Londoners will be priced further and further out of London. The focus needs to be on creating long-term, secure, safe and truly affordable housing for all Londoners.

Short letting is destroying Hackney and, increased rents too!

There is no other way but to regulate the economy, rules, and responsibilities.

London is a Dickensian place made for rules of advantage to money and it boasts horrible poverty

Its principles are ruthless and coldblooded this has to change if we want to make London better.
Local communities and local identity should be protected not only by economic standards.

I want to see the grandsons of Dalston thrive and open shop not white settlers with their cupcake hipster expensive nonsense and
more and more nightclubs and drugs and noise every night.

Airbnb seemed a good idea it is been proved that is harmful and toxic, and personal experiences are meaningless today! it is about the ecosystems we create and those are terrible now.

I have been an Airbnb host. All guests were lovely and treated my home with respect, they loved their stay in London and even did return trips, they loved staying in someone's home and living like a local. The question should be do hosting companies provide safeguards - yes they do. I have stayed in short term lefts myself when I have travelled.

Have I rented my room out to uk lodgers? Yes, twice. One really lovely lodger who was from the Midlands. The other was a living hell and after two months I had to ask that person to leave. Now, I'm happily living alone. As regards whole properties, I'm sure more landlords would opt to host short term international guests as their rights to choose who they have in their properties are eroding. Everyone thinks that all landlords are rich, they are not. If a tenant doesn't pay their rent, the landlord still has to pay the mortgage. If they don't pay the rent and damage the property then that's where you get landlords who sell up as they can't afford that level of financial impact. Then you get less properties to rent - rent prices goes up.

I would love to say I have no objection to short term lettings, but the housing shortage and cost of living in London is reaching a point of becoming ridiculous. When a landlord has a better chance letting out properties as a short term let, the residents of London get pushed out. I would like to see a cap on the number of short term lets in an area to ensure that Londoners are still given priority to live in London. I am not so concerned by the owner of a two bedroom house renting out the spare room - I think this is VERY different to someone buying a two bedroom house to effectively setup a business renting them both out. When City Hall discusses this issue I think there should be a clear difference between letting out a room in your primary residence and letting out a room in a property you own but do not live in.

There needs to be robust control of short-term lettings, both regarding landlords and tenants. There should be strictly enforced safeguards against exploitation by landlords and antisocial behaviour by tenants.

I know of people who have let out a room through Airbnb and not sought permission, the legislation is too lax. I also think that we need legislation to rent out properties that are permanently and use these to house people.

I have had the misfortune of short-term tenants moving into various flats next door and/or adjacent to me for the weekend. Although I am sure this was an advantageous arrangement for the flat owner who no doubt received much needed extra income, this was anything but a positive experience for me due to the fact the people staying there could not care less how much noise they made and I was left with little recourse but to put up with it.

As with most government policies,(ie enforcement of the minimum wage), without sufficient funding, which could be covered by fines, the policies are ignored because the chance of prosecution for rule breaking is very low
The answer is as put forward by MPs from tourist towns, to create a new planning class, to separate living accommodation from short term holiday accommodation.
Also prevent owners from registering holiday accommodation as businesses to avoid council tax, and then, as in Wales, increase Council tax on holiday accommodation by x3 or more.

Older folk where I live no longer know who their neighbours are. Overnight stayers arrive and leave at all hours, some come in groups to hold parties. Owners have lots of flats in lots of places as much as hotels with none of the health and safety and no care for the communities they destroy

I fully support homeowners' rights to let their properties on a long or short term basis including for holiday lets. By the government's own admission this is a sector that is growing quickly. If there is strong and growing demand for something why would the government want to restrict it? In the centre of London where I live I frequently hear the complaint that properties have been sold to people that never visit them. Large parts of Knightsbridge, Mayfair, etc. are 'ghost towns' apparently. If people want to rent out their properties instead of leaving them empty isn't that good for everyone from the owners to local businesses, to the tourism industry? I think it should be encouraged.

Short term lets should be managed through professional firms who meet the clients at the property and are on call during the stay to deal with any issues that may arise. Simple solution to most, if not all of the issues noted by others. As to causing a long term let shortage, perhaps there is some merit to this claim however removing or hindering the ability for business to thrive is just foolishness.

This industry should really be limited to people letting their flat while away on holiday. 90day rule is unfortunately not enforced, impacting availability and price of long lets + destroying local communities. This needs firm enforcement at the source (Airbnb and the likes should have a legal requirement to monitor, with punitive fines if there is a breach + requirement to feed into an aggregated database so that it can be monitored as a whole)

Short term lettings are good for the economy in general and at this time when people are suffering economic difficulties they should be able to supplement their incomes by letting rooms or whole properties. This should be regulated to ensure safety and reduce nuisance to neighbours and perhaps a maximum number of properties/rooms allowed per owner i.e. should not be for the benefit of big commercial enterprises. It should not be over-regulated though.

Short term let may be acceptable in a property which has its own front door. In a blocking flats they are very disruptive and have a very negative impact on community.

The owners of the flat next door to me thought they had let their property to a single man in his 40s who said he would often be away in business. In fact he turned out to be an agent for AirBnB. His role - to secure tenancies, fit them out to maximise lettings and put a ‘host’ in place.

We then had to tolerate a long series of loud and disruptive weekly and weekend lettings Parties, people in ‘holiday mode’, drug dealing and even a band practicing.

Complaints to the host went unanswered. The owners knew nothing about it. When I showed them the AirBnB listing thankfully they took immediate action to evict the underlying tenant.

We have other similar flats in the building.
Local government needs to regulate this and ban it in inappropriate buildings. Also to run a scheme whereby illegal short term lets can be reported - as happens in New York.

A total ban on foreign based or non-UK citizen owners renting UK properties should be enforced immediately. Enforcing quality, safety and adherence to the law are the only areas that the mayor and the government have any right to govern.

APPALLING THE SOCIAL SERVICES HOMES TO HOUSING ASSOC ARE RUNDOWN NEGLECTED UNMAINTED SO FILFTHY DESPICABLE ATTROCIOUS / DIRTY UNCLEAN STREETS..FOR THE COSTS IN EXPLOITED RENTS..JUST GREED IN CORRUPTION/ IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND THE RIGHT HOMES AS BUNGALOWS ARE TORN DOWN..PLUS NO MORE ELDERLY HOMES AVAIL ? RICH MANS LONDON...

I recently visited Paris. The city there has fantastic facilities for Tourists including several tourist information centres, a good website with local hotels and accommodation and easily accessible maps for people visiting.
In London we don’t have any of that. There is one Tourist Info Centre next to St Paul’s and nothing in the West End. Providing tourists with better facilities and pointing them towards more affordable but decent quality accommodation outside Airbnbs will help keep these issues to a minimum.