Holiday Accommodation: Crime

(asked on 8th September 2022) - View Source

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the potential use of short term holiday lets for illegal activities, whether she has had recent discussions with Cabinet colleagues on the potential merits of licencing short term holiday lets.


Answered by
Julia Lopez Portrait
Julia Lopez
Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
This question was answered on 22nd September 2022

The sharing economy has brought many benefits to the tourism sector and wider economy, as well as creating an additional income stream for homeowners. However, we recognise that the increase in short-term letting has also prompted some concerns. These include the impact on the housing market and local communities, and a sense that new entrants in the market are not being held to the same health and safety standards as, for example, hotels and B&Bs.

The Government committed in the Tourism Recovery Plan published in June last year to consider a possible Tourist Accommodation Registration Scheme in England. As a first step in this process, a Call for Evidence was published on 29 June and runs until 21 September.

We want to hear from a wide range of stakeholders, including local authorities, in order to build a much-needed evidence base on these issues and enable us to develop proportionate policy responses for a future consultation. We ideally want to strike a balance between the benefits of the sharing economy and addressing the concerns of the impact on some communities, alongside ensuring consistency in quality among the range of different tourism accommodation providers.

The Home Office does not collect data specifically in relation to short term holiday lets for the offences listed.

Reticulating Splines