Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 19 June (HL Deb, cols 1929–31), what steps, if any, they are taking to control the use of short term lets in leaseholder and tenanted premises in London that were originally social housing where the public sector is now the freeholder and where the contract with the tenant or leaseholder proscribes commercial activity.

Individual leases and tenancy agreements are a matter for landlords and tenants. Landlords should not unreasonably prohibit sub-letting, and the Courts can adjudicate in this matter, taking account of the relevant covenants.

Where permission under the contract is required to sub-let but is not obtained, landlords already have legal routes to enforce the contract and the Government has no plans to introduce additional controls.