Today the government published new plans for regulating holiday lets in England. As we've reported, thousands of homes have been lost to the tourist sector in recent years, pushing up rents in holiday hotspots like Cornwall, the Lake District and Norfolk. 

Unfortunately proposed planning rules will not reverse the recent trend.

England’s housing supply lost nearly 11,000 properties to the second home and holiday let sector between 2021 and 2022, according to our new analysis of local tax data.

Wales and South West England saw both the largest increase in holiday home ownership and the largest rise in rents over the course of the pandemic, according to our latest research.

A sharp rise in properties being let out as holiday homes, has meant that renters around the UK are being priced out of their own local communities, our latest research has found. And renters in Scotland, Wales and the South West of England are the worst hit.

The damage that Airbnb-style lets is doing to our communities is becoming clearer. Last week, the Guardian revealed that in parts of London, Edinburgh, Devon and the Lake District, one in every four homes is listed as a holiday let.

As we told them, this is depriving communities of much needed homes.

Transport for London has banned adverts for holiday let companies that take homes away from Londoners, following a successful campaign against the anti-tenant adverts by Generation Rent. 

You’ve probably heard of Airbnb. But you might not have heard of Flipkey, HomeAway, HomeStay or Hostmaker. The concept stays the same - property owners rent out their house or flat for ‘short-term lets’, also known as holiday homes. They can be a great solution for covering your rent or mortgage bills for a few weeks whilst you’re away or utilising that spare room in your home.

But the problem is that local communities are finding more and more entire properties becoming permanent holiday homes. It’s eating up the market of houses that families can call home, and pushing up local rents.