“York should learn from Barcelona,” says Action on Short-Term Lets

The government currently has two proposals to introduce a national registration system for short-term rentals and to require building permits for houses intended to be used as holiday rentals in certain circumstances.

Meanwhile, York Central MP Rachael Maskell has organized a community consultation for Thursday 25 May to discuss the proposals with residents.

In addition, the campaign group Action on Short-Term Lets is launching a campaign to ensure that English local authorities have the right to refuse whole house conversions to Airbnbs.

“York is becoming a tourist destination that people can no longer afford to live in,” said Chris Bailey, national campaign manager.

“People are priced out,” he added.

“What is happening is that prices are going up for people; Rents are rising and becoming unaffordable.

“That’s being confirmed by people in national politics.”

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Mr Bailey believes York can learn from capital cities across Europe.

He said: “We believe local governments need licensing powers to give communities real control and the ability to limit housing loss in the short-term rental market.”

“This can be achieved by limiting the number of licenses issued and the number of days rented per year. Cities like Barcelona and Amsterdam have shown that this works. So why not in York too?

“When Berlin introduced compulsory permits for short-term rentals and instituted harsh penalties for non-permission rents, thousands of apartments were repurposed as normal, longer-term rentals for primary residential use, helping to ease pressure on housing and making it easier for people to find secure housing to find for longer periods of time -Temporary homes.

York City Council was asked for comment but did not respond in time for publication.

Earlier, however, Council leader Claire Douglas said Labor “will do everything we can to ensure that Airbnbs and short-term holiday rentals are not as prevalent in the city as they are at present, because in some areas they are actually quite dominant.” .”

Ms Maskell said: “The expansion of short-term vacation rentals and its impact on community life is an issue of great concern to me and many other residents across the city.”