Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Concerns that Airbnb could exacerbate London’s housing crisis
A GLA report published last month has added to the growing disquiet in London and other cities around the word about the negative impact of Airbnb lettings.
The report flagged concerns that Airbnb and other short-term letting platforms remove housing supply from the mainstream housing rental market and so could exacerbate London’s housing crisis.
The paper does recognise positive benefits brought about by Airbnb, for example the economic benefits, in terms of both tourist spending and job creation. It also concludes that generally speaking, Londoners think that short-term letting is good for the capital and is acceptable when a person goes away and lets their property out.
However, Londoners thought that short-term letting had a negative impact on the local sense of community, the availability of housing to rent, and the cost of buying or renting a house.
As introduced by the Deregulation Act 2015, short-term letting was intended as a way for individual homeowners to rent their property, to supplement their income and meet travellers from around the world. However, there are signs that short-term letting platforms are becoming increasingly commercialised. Like other cities around the world, London is starting to wake up to the issue and considering if any further action is needed.
Source: GLA Report
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by JJ B on
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I plead guilty as a regular AirBnB user...
"As introduced by the Deregulation Act 2015, short-term letting was intended as a way for individual homeowners to rent their property, to supplement their income and meet travellers from around the world. However, there are signs that short-term letting platforms are becoming increasingly commercialised".
What an understatement! We all know taht AirBnb is no longer mostly people who are short term letting their spare capacity, but mainly big fish who have massively moved into the market of tourist and short stay accommodation in any tourist destinations around the world.
The problem is two fold.
1). Residents, who often have lower purcahsing power, are in direct competition with the higher paying tourists. So especially in cities, they are being squeezed out and as rents and prices soar due restricted supply since homes are withdrawn from the market (for rental or sale). The cities increasingly become live-in museums of sorts.
2).The short lets are not regulated to the same, more restrictive standard applied to hotels e.g Airbnbs do not have the same obligation to provide fire or CO2 alarms. And the rental platforms have become oligopolistic i their behaviour, are based off shore and pay little in corporate taxes.
Bad model but politicians refuse to act and 'take baclk control'.
You would also think that hoteliers would band together and form a coop, hire some code writers and form their own internet booking platforms, with lower commission rates than let's say booking.com. But that is a separate issue.
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