The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has today announced new reforms to address the imbalance between short-term and long-term lets.
Planning permission will be required for future short-term lets, while a national register will provide valuable information and help ensure accommodation is safe.
This is especially important in popular tourist areas such as South Devon, where many properties have been taken out of the long-term rental market in favour of the holiday market. Increasing costs and levels of bureaucracy for long lets have also contributed to the shortage of properties for those who live and work in the area.
Planning changes
A new use class for short-term lets will be introduced, which will apply where the property is not someone’s main or sole home. This enables such properties to be treated separately in planning terms from family homes. The Government has also committed to introducing associated permitted development rights allowing for a property to be changed from a residential dwelling to this new use class and vice versa.
Where there are local concerns over a concentration of short-term lets, local planning authorities can make an Article 4 direction to remove the permitted development right. This then means that a planning application will be required where in future a residential dwelling seeks instead to be used as a short-term let. This will provide for more local control over the growth of short-term lets and enable local areas to balance the need for local people to have homes they can afford to buy or to rent with the needs of the visitor economy.
Flexibility for homeowners
The Government recognises that some homeowners benefit from the sharing economy by letting out their own home for short periods when, for example, they are away on holiday. Certainty will be provided for homeowners who wish to do this by being clear in legislation that letting out your own home for up to 90 nights in a calendar year is permitted, in line with the position already legislated for in London. This provides a balance between flexibility for homeowners to boost their income with any potential nuisance to neighbours and the community.
Registration scheme
The Government delivered the legal framework for a registration scheme through the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023. The details of how a scheme should operate were explored through a consultation last year. Analysis of the consultation responses clearly demonstrates support for a mandatory registration scheme across all of England with 61% of those who responded supporting this option. A mandatory, national approach will promote a level playing field in the guest accommodation sector across England, particularly in the application of existing health & safety regulations. It will provide clarity to all short-term let providers on the existing rules they should be following, and promote greater consistency in applying these rules. It will also provide valuable data at a local level across England: this will give local authorities more information to identify short-term lets in their area and ensure the operation of the planning changes are informed by evidence
Find more information here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/short-term-lets-rules-to-protect-com…