Tourists

Oxford City Council call for new approach on short lets

Oxford City Council has called on the government for a new approach to the way whole properties are rented out as short lets.

In a letter to Housing Minister, Christopher Pincher, Oxford City Council Leader, Councillor Susan Brown, expressed her concern about the impact of short lets in Oxford and said that legislation similar to that planned in Scotland would bring ‘clear benefits’.

The council believes that there are up to 900 homes in Oxford entirely rented out on short lets for all or most of the year.

Councillor Brown acknowledged that short lets will play an important part in helping Oxford’s tourist economy recover from the pandemic, but noted that the growing practice of letting out entire properties on this basis deprives the city of much needed family homes.

In extreme cases, short let properties have been used for illegal or anti-social purposes, as brothels or for regular loud parties etc.

The authority said the short let sector is virtually unregulated and Councillor Brown said the council lacked the tools to effectively manage problematic short lets in a timely way.

She called on the government to put short lets on a level playing field with other rented properties and rental businesses, such as hotels and guesthouses, which are all regulated.

Regulation of short lets has been endorsed by a major online accommodation company, which has recommended the creation of a register of short lets.

As well as this, it has called for a change in the law requiring planning permission before an owner can rent an entire house as a short let for more than 140 nights in a year.

The Scottish Government is proposing legislation requiring all owners to have a license before they are allowed to operate an entire property as a short let.

This would ensure owners meet minimum safety standards with their short let property or properties and would allow Scottish councils to set their own conditions to address local needs or concerns, such as restricting noise levels at night or littering.

Oxford City Council said the adoption of similar proposals in England would enable the authority to attach planning conditions to short lets.

They also said it would restrict the number allowed in particular areas and allow them to take prompt action in cases of illegal and anti-social behaviour at individual properties.

While the council took planning enforcement action against one short let property in July 2019, the owner appealed and the appeal was not dismissed by the Planning Inspectorate until August 2020.

But for lockdown, the property would have remained available as a short let for another 13 months.

Commenting, Councillor Brown said: “Oxford City Council first asked for powers to regulate short lets in 2018 and we believe that this is urgently required as we reopen and recover from Covid-19.

“We have no objection to people letting rooms in their own homes, but the increasing number of whole properties rented on short lets creates problems we can’t tackle without tools like mandatory licensing and changes to planning law.

“Oxford requires all houses in multiple occupation to be licensed and we will be asking government to confirm our plans to license all private rented homes.

“Hotels and guesthouses are also subject to stringent regulation.

“Lack of regulation gives short let landlords an unfair advantage compared to residential landlords and other commercial lets.

“This is a loophole that needs to be closed and I look forward to the government’s response to our concerns.”

PSE Mag

PSE February/ March 2024

Digital Infrastructure - the key to shaping the future of our rural communities

Dive into our latest edition for February/March!

 

Videos...

View all videos
Online Conference

Presenting

2024 Online Conferences

In partnership with our community of public sector leaders responsible for procurement and strategy across local authorities and the wider public sector, we’ve devised a collaborative calendar of conferences and events for leaders of industry to listen, learn and collaborate through engaging and immersive conversation.

All our conferences are CPD accredited, which means you can gain points to advance your career by attending our online conferences. Also, the contents are available on demand so you can re-watch at your convenience.

Public Sector Executive Podcast

Ep 51. Diversity, equality and representation with Stuart Love, Chief Executive of Westminster City Council

It is the role of local government leaders to make the decisions that will best deliver for the communities that they represent. That much is obvious.
 

How can they do this, however, if they are not accurately representative of those very communities?
 

Great strides have been made in ensuring that everyone, regardless of their ethnicity, race, gender, or social class is represented in some way within local government. Chief Executive of Westminster City Council Stuart Love joins host Dan Benn to talk about why this work is important, the different work that is being done in Westminster, and how his background influences his stance on equality and diversity.

More articles...

View all