MPs have been given more details of the Government’s plans to clamp down on holiday lets in tourism hotspots following Michael Gove’s announcement this week.

He said on Monday (19th February) that plans to introduce a national register for those renting out their homes via platforms such as Airbnb and Booking.com for more than 90 days a year, and also giving local councils in places like Cornwall, Devon and the Lake District more power to control new holiday lets via planning, would now be implemented.

Government minister Julia Lopez (main picture) was quizzed about the details of this clampdown, replying that although the Government recognises how much holiday lets are becoming a concern in many rural and seaside communities, the Government wants “a light touch, low cost and simple scheme and [we] do not wish to apply disproportionate new regulation on property owners that let out their home infrequently”.

Price out

This means that professional landlords who buy homes just to let them out to holiday makers in areas where locals feel priced out of the housing market face higher hurdles in the future.

This will include signing up the national register and applying for planning permission under permitted development rights as a ‘C5 short-term let use class’.

Also, they may have to pay higher council tax for the property of up to double the existing levy under new powers given to councils by Gove.

Lopez added: “Work on the detailed design of the scheme will now begin at pace, and in close cooperation with industry.

“To do so, we will be reaching out to representatives of the visitor economy and likely users of the scheme to support this next phase of work.”

But she did not answer many of the questions put to here by Labour’s Rachael Maskell, who wanted to know who was going to run the register, what the criteria would be for properties to be included, what information would have to be provided by landlords and whether they would have to police holiday maker’s behaviours – i.e. stop rowdy parties.