The Government has published a consultation on proposals to introduce a planning use class for short-term lets and associated permitted development rights, allowing councils to control the number of Airbnb’s in their areas, aimed at tackling the rise in the number of short-term lets in tourist areas, “which are reported as impacting adversely on the availability and affordability of homes to buy or to rent for local people“. But as the provision will apply to all of England it may not just be ‘tourist’ areas as hinted in the press release. Suggestions include;
• The introduction of a new use class for short-term lets
• The potential introduction of a new permitted development right for the change of use from a dwelling house to a short-term let
• The potential introduction of a new permitted development right for the change of use from a short-term let to a dwelling house
• flexibility for homeowners to let out their home for a number of nights in a calendar year may be provided through either changes to the dwelling house use class or an additional permitted development right
• The introduction of a planning application fee for the development of new build short term lets
• The consultation asks for views on fixing a set number of days per year a property is let out, within which, planning permission will not be required – for example 30 days, 60 days or 90 days.
It would appear that if introduced, any scheme would need to be adopted by a Council ‘where it is justified locally’ Properties used for short-term lets can have particular impacts arising from “the churn of people,” the document adds. These impacts include heightened noise and traffic from the arrivals and departures, the storage and handling of waste, noise from parties, inconvenience to neighbours, and the burden on local authority resources.
Alan Davies Associate Director at Chapman Lily commented; ‘We will be responding to the consultation – how struggling local planning authorities will monitor and enforce these new provisions remains to be seen. There will surely be tension in some tourist areas – do you seek to restrict Airbnb’s and hope these properties will then become available for local people to rent – or do you accept them welcome the added boost and support for the local economy? If there is a threshold of 30 days the use not requiring planning permission will people simply cease the use a day or so within the limit? What will happen to the property for the rest of the year? As ever with planning legislation, there are bound to be unintended consequences no one can anticipate at this stage.’