Airbnb to enforce 90-day limit on short-term lets amid fears it's 'fuelling London's housing crisis'

James McClure: the head of Airbnb for northern Europe said it is taking pre-emptive action
Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images
David Churchill1 December 2016

Airbnb is to ban landlords from renting out homes for more than three months a year to dampen fears that the home-sharing giant is fuelling London’s housing crisis.

Although the law prohibits short-term rentals of more than 90 days over the course of a year without planning permission, Airbnb has not prevented users of its website from exceeding this limit.

But the Standard can reveal that the £24 billion Silicon Valley company is to launch a feature that will block landlords and hosts from breaking the law.

It will send them notifications as they approach the 90-day limit, giving details of where to seek permission if they want to continue sharing whole properties in that calendar year.

Mayor Sadiq Khan has written to MPs raising concerns that short-term lets — such as those on Airbnb — could be reducing the availability of long-term rentals in the capital and that legislation might be required.

Sadiq Khan has written to MPs about concerns short-term lets could reduce the number of long-term rentals
PA

James McClure, head of Airbnb for northern Europe, said: “We’re making sure home-sharing grows responsibly and sustainably and are taking pre-emptive action to make sure that it’s helping London be a more successful city which continues to be at the centre of the sharing economy.”

The move comes as an independent think tank released a study which found that the impact of home-sharing on London’s housing supply is “negligible”. The report by the Institute for Public Policy Research was commissioned by Airbnb.

Data from the US firm shows the number of homes booked in London rose from a few hundred in 2011 to more than 40,000 being offered on the site last year — but the IPPR report found that the second figure accounts for less than one per cent of private housing stock in the capital.

Update: the new feature will send hosts notifications as they approach the 90-day limit 
AFP/Getty Images

In most boroughs the majority of homes are booked for fewer than 31 nights a year.

The report states: “Our analysis, the first of its kind to use actual bookings data, finds that, given both the number of homes being offered for short-term let and the proportion of those homes likely to be suitable for long-term let, home-sharing’s impact on housing supply in London is currently negligible. Building too few homes remains the core cause of the capital’s housing crisis.”

However, the report warns against complacency about home-sharing’s ability to “contribute to the housing crisis in future”.

A separate Opinium poll of 1,000 adults has also shown that 60 per cent of Londoners believe something should be done to prevent people from renting out their whole property for longer than 90 days a year.

City Hall today welcomed Airbnb’s new feature. James Murray, deputy mayor for housing and residential development, said: “We have been in discussion with London boroughs to understand their concerns about enforcing existing legislation and this move by Airbnb is a very positive and sensible step forward.”

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