A political activist has called on the council to help rough sleepers and people in temporary housing as holiday lets left many people unable to afford a home.
Daniel Harris asked Brighton and Hove City Council to put local people first and ensure that new schemes worked for the community not for “mega host” landlords who could let a flat for £250 to £350 a night.
He told a meeting of the full council at Hove Town Hall on Thursday (30 March) that private sector landlords were selling up, such was the demand for the holiday market.
Mr Harris said that the situation was “disgusting” when there were 2,200 people in temporary housing and rough sleeping was on the rise.
He said: “Airbnb mega hosts worsen the housing crisis for key workers and council tenants in Brighton as investment properties leave them in dire need of temporary and affordable accommodation.
“The Airbnb website confirms, even with the recession and higher interest rates, there are almost 3,000 listings in Brighton and Hove at the moment and, of those, 74 per cent are entire home rentals.
“Is it not time for the city to adopt an Airbnb levy or tourism tax of 10 per cent, specifically applied to the entire homes listings and the mega host market, and compensate the public and community with new income to improve our communities and build new homes we desperately need in this city?”
Outside the meeting, Mr Harris said that he had paid the tourism tax in Mallorca, adding: “Why do I go to Mallorca? Because of its beautiful friendly culture and atmosphere, with great people. It’s clean with plants and trees and looked after.
“I am happy to pay whatever it is. I do not think a small but sizeable new levy would put people off. Having a cleaner city with no rough sleeping would bring in investment.”
Green councillor Martin Osborne, who co-chairs the council’s Tourism, Equalities, Communities and Culture Committee, said that there was a demand for housing and for holiday lets to support the visitor economy.
He said: “We take the point about the short-term lets market. We have done some work on this and commented on the government’s consultation.
“They are bringing in a register later this year which we obviously support. We would like to go further with changing planning laws so we can have this designation for ourselves.”
Councillor Osborne said that the council would support a tourism tax but did not have the power to bring one in.
He said that Mr Harris should respond to the upcoming review of the City Plan Part 1 regarding zoning for tourist accommodation.
Last September, the council responded to the government’s consultation on holiday lets, saying: “Housing demand and rising private sector rents have an adverse effect on the affordability of housing in the city.
“The lack of affordable housing supply has an economic impact on our ability to retain lower-income working households and employment in the city across all sectors.
“With less available stock and the same (or increasing) numbers trying to access this, this will result in higher market rents being charged. We continue to see an increase in advertised rents across most sized properties.”
There shoud be a local tax added onto Airbnb’s regardless and it should go back into the council funds, after all these people that are renting the Airbnb’s are using the local facilities like bins ect and the landords are making a pure profit. They should have introduced this years ago and perhaps council tax needent go up so much as it does every year!
There is. It is called business rates and in most cases it is much higher than council tax.
Airbnb hosts / landlords have had a very easy ride and are due a clamp down. They need to be taxed to at least the same level as regular landlords and to comply with the same standards and regulations as hotels amd guest houses have to. I saw a Brighton property for sale on Rightmove currently used as an Airbnb – 3 bedrooms sleeping 12 people. The neighbours must dread who is going to turn up every weekend. We don’t even know how many such properties there are in B&H.
They are taxed with VAT and tax on profit. They also do need to adhere to the same regulations as any other guest accommodation such as B and Bs and hotels.
Indeed Airbnb’s do not have to adhere to the same regulations as hotels and B&Bs, that was my point. They should do.
All businesses have their profits taxed so that’s a non point you have made. VAT is paid by the customer, not the business.
Short term lets also have a significant adavantage over regular landlords as they can deduct their mortgage interest payments from their profits.
If a property is being let out it should be taxed as a business – business rates for a start, and so no CGT allowance on sale as it’s not your private residence.
If it’s a business property I’m imagining it would need planning permission to be something other than a home too.
There is one issue with this argument. Brighton was always built to be primarily a tourism city. This is also very green industry as it stops people just going abroad on holiday. By attacking the Brighton tourism indurty all we are doing is getting people to pay tax to the Spanish Government. People don’t want to stay in bed and breakfasts which is why many of these have converted along with other properties to AirBnBs. The impact of bad publicity on this market will have a big impact on the council’s budget by restricting accommodation for conference and travellers to the city. This will also have a knock-on impact on restaurants, bars, clubs etc which in many cases are only just surviving that are reliant on these tourists. These properties which are in many cases second homes will never be repurposed to provide accommodation for people on the council waiting list. If the council wishes to destroy this market they should just use the licensing scheme to restrict the numbers by preventing properties coming off the market being replaced as a significant percentage get sold every year.
You’re really grabbing at straws now Jennifer. Brighton had a thriving tourism before the explosion in short term lets, curtailing the number of holiday lets will not change that.
People don’t want to stay in bed and breakfasts with their family or their friends anymore. That market is dead and many of these properties have closed down or been converted to AirBnBs. They also often want to travel in groups and hotels are unsuitable for this and families or even people that need a base whilst they move house or are working here for a few months. By all means say you wish to trash the tourism market. This is a request that is a point of view you are entitled to have but don’t be naive about the absolute fortune and the number of jobs these businesses bring to the local economy and not to the Spanish economy.
The whims of tourists do not trump the rights of residents who live and work here. Over 2,000 homes have been lost to short term lets which is obviously deterimental to local housing provision and forces rents up. This is the whole point of the article. ‘But tourists like Airbnbs’ is a non-argument used by landlords to try and justify the huge profits you are making to the deteriment of local residents. Many residents also have to endure antisocial behaviour and in some cases have been forced out as they can no longer stand the huge disruption that is foisted upon them. Not that you care about any of that of course. I’m certainly not naive as I can see straight through your flimsy arguments.
Not quite many of these homes would never have been available to rent. Also, this number has not been lost from housing stock. 800 flats have been built in Sackville Road. 400 new flats on the Preston Barracks development alone. Not sure of the numbers in the other developments but the housing stock has shot up. The issue is not everyone can afford to live in Brighton just like not everyone can afford to live in zone 1 in London. It is not the job of the council to provide accommodation for everyone that would like to live here.
Businesses follow the money. Councils should build own housing and stop relying on the private sector.
Air b n b is a scapegoat and not the cause of underinvestment by councils. The private rental supply is dwindling and set to reduce even more. This is due to the removal of tax breaks, higher borrowing costs and the end of no fault evictions. Bear in mind mortgage companies will factor the end of no fault evictions into their decision and prices.
Lastly the EPC C rating for rental properties will remove many properties from the rental market as the upgrade costs are beyond the means of most landlords.
So Councils- you cannot rely on private rental market as it is disappearing fast. Stop scapegoating and start building