Minister says holiday-lets registration scheme to go live ASAP’
Tourism minister Chris Bryant says initial set-up work is now complete and that only 'technical matters' on how scheme will run need to be sorted out before a launch.
Government minister Chris Bryant (pictured) says Labour’s much-discussed holiday-lets registration scheme for England will be up-and-running as soon as possible, heralding more form-filling for letting agents involved in this sector.
To be an online register, it will see all those who let out homes via holiday lets required to register their properties, and is designed to help local authorities identify ‘under the radar’ holiday lets and understand how many homes within their boundaries are being used in this way.
It will also be used to stop owners renting out properties which are not their main home for more than 90 days without planning permission – as is the case in London already.
The register will create a ‘level playing field’ by forcing holiday-let owners to bring each property up to the same safety and quality standards to those of other accommodation providers such as hotels and B&Bs.
Bryant last week told parliament that a year after the intital announcement, the register will be introduced as soon as possible, the technical aspects of how and who will run it are being ironed out currently and public testing is planned to start in the next 12 months.
Letting agents who run short-lets on behalf of landlord clients in England will soon be required to so more form filling, therefore.
The Neg understands that the scheme will be designed to ensure that all providers of short-term lets are aware of their legal responsibilities to ensure that health and safety standards are met in their properties
The previous government had been considering a separate planning class for short-lets as well as new and more robust powers for local authorities to enforce it, but Labour has yet to confirm whether it will follow suit.
“We are in discussions with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, because we want to make sure that the scheme works and delivers what people want, which is a really strong local visitor economy, but we do not want to undermine local housing strategies,” Bryant told fellow MPs.
Oh great, more utterly pointless red-tape – just typical socialist rhetoric. How dare people work hard and buy second properties!