The UK Government are doing a consultation on Short Term holiday Lets.

They are asking local Councils to gather input and evidence.

Settle Town Council are doing this for their area. Please send any input to them, via email to clerk@settletowncouncil.gov.uk or using the form at https://forms.office.com/r/iEzfG4tS7R

For other areas – please use your local council to respond, or via the Government page below :

The Government page with more info and direct ways to respond is here –

Open consultation

Developing a tourist accommodation registration scheme in England: call for evidence

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/developing-a-tourist-accommodation-registration-scheme-in-england/developing-a-tourist-accommodation-registration-scheme-in-england-call-for-evidence 

 

A Summary of the Questions is in text below:

and in downloadable formats here:

Editable word doc : WORD Annex-A-All-questions-on-short-term-holiday-lets

pdf : PDF Annex-A-All-questions-on-short-term-holiday-lets

 

Annex A

All questions on call for evidence on short term holiday lets

 

Question 1: Are you able to provide us with evidence illustrating the size and nature of the short-term and holiday letting market in England and/or its regions, and how that has changed over time?

This question is concerned with painting a picture of the market in England, in both revenue and people terms. Your answer should therefore focus on providing objective evidence, and not on providing an assessment of its consequences (e.g. on the housing market, which is covered in later questions).

For this question, the government is particularly interested in the following:

For any data provided, it would be helpful to have:

• data illustrating the picture at a national level
• data illustrating the picture in different regions of England
• data that might help with equalities analysis (sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation and other protected characteristics listed in the Equality Act 2010), e.g. proportion of hosts on a platform that are male/female
• data illustrating changes since 2010, including during the pandemic

If you are an online platform it would be helpful to have:

• data on the number of active listings on your platform, and how that has changed over time
• a breakdown of the types of listing on your platform (e.g. the number of listings run by property management companies versus individuals, the number of entire premises offered versus single rooms and the number where the listing is based on exclusive customer use as opposed to co-living with the host)
• data illustrating a typical host or listing (e.g. average earnings per host/listing, average number of nights hosted per year)
• data on occupancy rates (i.e. how often listed properties are made available per year, how this varies over the course of the year and how often they are used)
• data on where listings are geographically/regionally located
• data on the economic impact of short-term and holiday letting activity, including key source markets

If you are a local authority / destination management organisation / enforcement agency it would be helpful to have data illustrating short-term letting activity in your area, how that has changed over time and data on the effectiveness of enforcement.

Question 2: What do you consider to be the main benefits of short-term and holiday letting for:

1. a) Homeownersb) Consumersc) Businesses and the wider economy

Where possible, please provide detailed quantitative evidence. Quantitative data will assist with producing robust estimates of the costs and benefits of any policy responses.

For example, when answering this question, if you are a host offering short-term letting services it would be useful to provide data such as how much you earn in an average year from short-term and holiday letting activity. Likewise, if you are an online platform it would be useful to estimate the wider economic impact on the local communities and to see data showing the various types of accommodation business that use your platform.

Question 3: How do you assess levels of compliance with regulations on:

1. a) Fire safetyb) Gas safetyc) Health and safetyd) Food and drink

within the short-term and holiday letting market in England?

• Option 1 – Compliance is very good
• Option 2 – Compliance is good
• Option 3 – Compliance is fair
• Option 4 – Compliance is poor
• Option 5 – Compliance is very poor

For each of these, please give reasons for your answer. If you believe there is significant non-compliance, please provide specific examples/evidence. Alternatively, if you believe compliance is generally strong, please also provide evidence.

If you are a platform, how do you inform hosts about their legal requirements?

If you are a host, are you aware of your legal requirements? How have you been informed of these requirements?

What assessment do you make of how effectively the regulation is enforced?

Question 4: Do you consider there to be a problem with breach of contractual agreements in the short-term and holiday letting market in England? If so, why?

• Option 1 – Yes, this is a major problem
• Option 2 – Yes, but this is only a minor problem
• Option 3 – No, there is no problem

Please give reasons for your answer, as well as specific examples/evidence. The government is particularly interested in breaches of mortgage, tenancy and social housing agreements.

Question 5: Do you consider there to be other legal provisions concerning the supply of short-term and holiday letting to paying guests which are not covered elsewhere in this call for evidence but where there are issues with awareness, compliance and/or enforcement?

• Option 1 – Yes
• Option 2 – No

If yes, please be specific about the legal provisions concerned and provide supporting evidence.

Please ensure your answer is relevant to the case for or against the introduction of a Tourist Accommodation Registration Scheme and/or how such a scheme could be designed. This call for evidence is not concerned with views about specific legal provisions if they are not relevant to these central questions.

Question 6: Do you consider the increase in short-term and holiday letting in England to have had adverse consequences on the housing market?

• Option 1 – Yes, this is a major problem
• Option 2 – Yes, but this is only a minor problem
• Option 3 – No, there is no problem

Please give reasons for your answer, including specific examples/evidence of any adverse effects, particularly at a local level.

It would also be useful to get views on whether you think the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated or altered some of these adverse consequences. For example, could there be an impact as a result of changes in the way people choose to work?

Question 7: Do you consider noise, anti-social or other nuisance behaviour in short-term and holiday lets in England to be a problem? If so, why?

• Option 1 – Yes, this is a major problem
• Option 2 – Yes, but this is only a minor problem
• Option 3 – No, there is no problem

Please give reasons for your answer, including specific examples/evidence and detail on the type of noise, anti-social or nuisance behaviours you think are the problem, including data at a local level where possible.

Where you are aware of/or have experienced issues and you complained, what assessment do you make of how the incident was dealt with? How could this complaints procedure be improved?

Whether further regulation is necessary and proportionate or whether existing powers and authorities are able to adequately deal with these issues where they arise?

If you are an online platform or a host, what steps do you take to minimise the likelihood of anti-social or nuisance behaviour occurring?

Question 8: Aside from the impacts on housing and incidents of anti-social/nuisance behaviour, do you consider the increase in short-term and holiday letting in England to have had other adverse impacts on local communities and residents?

• Option 1 – Yes
• Option 2 – No

Please give reasons for your answer and provide specific examples/evidence.

Question 9: Which of the following do you consider to be the most appropriate form of response in the short-term letting market?

• 1 – Do nothing
• 2 – Provide more information to the sector
• 3 – Develop a self-certification registration scheme
• 4 – Develop a registration scheme with light-touch checks
• 5 – Develop a licencing scheme with physical checks of the premises
• 6 – Regulatory alternative to a registration system, such as extension of the Deregulation Act 2015

Please give reasons for your answer, including why you consider other options to be inappropriate.

Are there other options that should be considered?

Question 10: What do you consider to be the costs and associated burdens of these options, who would bear the costs and how might they be mitigated?

Please consider in particular (3) develop a self-certification registration scheme, (4) develop a registration scheme with light-touch checks, and (5) develop a licensing scheme with physical checks of the premises.

Please also consider what the benefits are of the market operating as it currently does, as well as what might be the benefits of each of all of the above options, either to businesses, property owners, or to the consumer.

Question 11: Do you have any insight or evidence on the impact of schemes that are already running, or approaches taken elsewhere in the world?

The government would also be keen to learn about any other approaches that have been taken that are not included in the annex below.

Question 12: What has been the impact of the Deregulation Act 2015, specifically changes made by section 44 to the Greater London Council (General Powers) Act 1973?

Please consider the extent to which these provisions have allowed local authorities to respond to challenges posed by short term lettings.

Please also consider the potential use and impact such stipulations may have in other areas of the country.