A loss of family housing to the short-term holiday lets market requires a response before whole communities are hollowed out, Labour councillors will say at a meeting this week.

Latest figures show the switch to whole home holiday lets in York has at least tripled in the past four years, as property owners seek to reap the benefit of weekly rental figures far higher than ordinary tenancy rent levels.

Labour councillor Michael Pavlovic will propose Labour’s motion.  He said:

 “Policy makers nationally are slowly starting to wake up to the loss of significant quantities of family homes, especially in popular tourism destinations like York, but unfortunately not quickly enough.  In York we are seeing the transfer of homes to the short term lets market in Guildhall and Micklegate wards especially, but other wards are also affected.

 “The impact of this is often tenants being served with section 21 no fault eviction notices so landlords can switch to short-term holiday lets, adding pressure to the council housing waiting list.  The loss of homes to rent in the private rented sector is also a major problem, resulting in a supply shortage that drives rents up to even more unaffordable levels”.

While the council says it is unwilling to change policies that could help protect housing in the private rented sector before adoption of a Local Plan, Labour’s motion asks it to start compiling the evidence now that could lead to the following changes in the future:

• approval of a new planning policy to restrict the spread of short term and holiday let accommodation;
• exclusivity periods for York residents on new build developments;

–   main residence only conditions/restrictions on short term lets on new developments.

Councillor for Micklegate ward, Pete Kilbane, will second the motion. He said:

“In Micklegate ward we are seeing more and more landlords switching to holiday lets. This impacts community cohesion as residents are priced out of an area and replaced by fleeting visitors.  Local school rolls will also fall if this trend continues and unless the Government, and locally the council, decide to take this issue seriously.

“We’re not saying there isn’t a role for this type of accommodation. What we’re saying is that left unrestricted, it will have a damaging long-term impact across many of our communities, something we naturally want to avert before it’s too late”.

Labour’s motion will be debated by councillors at a meeting of all councillors this Thursday evening at the Guildhall, starting at 6.30pm.