Ahead of its response to its consultation, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has announced it will also require planning permission for short-term lets and that homeowners renting out their main home will be capped at doing so for a maximum 90 nights a year.
Enhanced regulation of short-term lets has been a years-long campaign for UKHospitality, with the goal of bringing them up to the same standards as the wider accommodation sector.
These changes achieve that goal, with the Government setting out that the new register will ‘underpin compliance with key health and safety regulations’.
Kate Nicholls, Chief Executive of UKHospitality, said: “The established accommodation sector adheres to high, regulated standards of health, safety and accessibility, and short-term lets have long been an unknown in how they stack up, due to a lack of oversight and visibility.
“Guests have a right to know that their accommodation is safe, accessible and regulated to the highest standards, and that is the bar at which short-term lets should be judged. That’s why we have been calling for change to make that possible.
“I’m delighted that the Government has acted on UKHospitality’s concerns and will be implementing a national, mandatory register and strengthening requirements for short-term lets.
“This will give local authorities the data they need to properly regulate the sector and, crucially, bring them up to the high standards of the wider accommodation sector.
“We await the Government’s response to the consultation to provide further detail and we’re committed to continuing working with them on this critical piece of work.”
