The Government is introducing changes around short-term lets that aim to protect residents from being pushed out of their communities.

Under the reforms, councils will be given more power to control short-term lets by making them subject to the planning process.

The move aims to support local people in areas where high numbers of short-term lets are preventing them from finding housing they can afford to buy or to rent.

Short-term lets are now a significant part of the UK’s visitor economy and can increase the options available to tourists and business travellers.

These changes, announced by the Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities, are part of a wider plan by the Government to prevent a “hollowing out” of communities and address anti-social behaviour.

A new mandatory national register will give local authorities the information they need about short-term lets in their area.

Homeowners will still be able to let out their own main or sole home for up to 90 nights throughout a year without planning permission and the Government is considering how to apply the register so it does not apply disproportionate regulation, such as on property owners that let out their home infrequently.

Secretary of State for Levelling Up Housing and Communities, Michael Gove said: “Short-term lets can play an important role in the UK’s flourishing tourism economy, providing great, easily-accessible accommodation in some of the most beautiful parts of our country.

“But in some areas, too many local families and young people feel they are being shut out of the housing market and denied the opportunity to rent or buy in their own community.”

Research by campaign group, Generation Rent, has previously found that 29 long-term homes a day are being lost to holiday lets, with over 35,000 homes having become holiday homes or short-term lets since 2019.

Generation Rent, which has long been calling for Government action on the issue, said it was “pleased” that a registration scheme will be introduced to monitor the use of these properties, but still raised concerns over whether the changes to the system would be enough to “reverse recent trends”.

“The Government must go further and introduce local holiday let licensing schemes, which could give councils proper oversight of how many homes in their area can be let out as short term lets based on local need,” a statement from the group said.

“This should include local caps on the number of holiday lets that can operate, along with tax changes that take mortgage interest relief away from holiday lets. If the Government doesn’t give local councils the powers they need to protect the supply of rented homes, then people will continue to be denied somewhere they can afford in the place they call home.”

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