New Planning Rules for Short Term Lets

The current Government have announced that they intend to take action to tackle the short term let market across England Wales, including holiday lets and airbnbs.

Those living in communities dominated by holiday lets have long campaigned for tighter regulation to reduce the number of properties that are removed from the local housing market, whilst balancing this against the benefits of tourism to the local economy and employment.

The proposal appears to be two pronged with the introduction of a mandatory national register and amendments to the planning rules.

A national register will require all landlords or owners of holiday and short term lets to list themselves and their properties. This will provide local authorities with valuable data on the number of short term lets in their area. It is a short step from here for them to be able to ensure properties are compliant with any safety regulations.

It is not clear whether those that let their own homes, or parts of them on an irregular basis will be required to join the register.

The statement explains that planning permission will be required for future short term lets. The aim is to create a new planning class meaning that a change of use would need to be applied for if you were to buy a property with the intention of holiday letting.

This suggests that properties that are currently let on this basis will not need to apply for retrospective planning, similar to the certificates of lawfulness that were applied to Houses in Multiple Occupation in designated Article 4 areas.

It seems that owner occupiers will be able to continue to let all or part of their properties without applying for planning, as long as any lets are less than 90 nights in any one year.

Associated permitted development rights will also be introduced, allowing for short term lets to drop back to a residential home, and also permitting a property to become a short term let without applying for full planning permission. This will be local authority dependent and they will have the powers to remove those permissions, in areas of high tourism for example.

Further details on the scheme are expected later this year.

Please note the date this article was published as the law or the essence may have changed since it was posted. You should always seek independent legal advice if you are intending to rely on any of the contents. Unless stated otherwise this article only reflects the position for the Private Rented Sector in England and therefore may not apply to other countries within the United Kingdom.