Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department requires owners of short term holiday lets to verify the age of the persons hiring that property.

There are no legal requirements to verify the age of person hiring a short term let, however most short- term let platforms require guests to agree to their Terms and Conditions stating that they must be over the age of 18 when making the booking.

The Tourism Recovery Plan, published in June 2021, committed to considering a Tourism Accommodation Registration Scheme in England. To better understand the issues faced by both communities and businesses, we intend first to launch a call for evidence, seeking views on the range of issues that arise from the increase in short term and holiday letting.

We also want to improve the evidence base and better understand the market today, including the benefits and challenges of the increase in short-term and holiday letting we have seen in England in recent years.