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MP warns central London being 'hollowed out' by short-term holiday lets

Yui Mok/ PAMedia For sale signs line a streetYui Mok/ PAMedia
Holiday let firms are pushing out those who want to buy their own home, MP Nickie Aiken claims

Central London is being "hollowed out" by short-term holiday lets, an MP has warned.

Conservative MP Nickie Aiken has called for action to licence local markets and prevent short-term holiday lets replace housing.

She said playing Monopoly could soon be the only way for people to buy a house in future.

Housing minister Eddie Hughes said evidence was needed about how the housing market was operating.

Ms Aiken, MP for Cities of London and Westminster, told the Commons that councils like hers needed to be able to licence holiday lets to ensure "the market is not overwhelmed".

"I'm deeply worried that we are witnessing a hollowing out of central London… as properties convert all too easily from homes into holiday lets," she said.

"It's getting so bad that I fear that the only realistic possibility for the young finding a property in central London is perhaps only playing Monopoly. And I don't mean to… be that flippant, but it's getting that bad."

Reuters MonopolyReuters
The board game Monopoly may soon be the only chance to get on the housing ladder, an MP has warned

Labour's Rachael Maskell described how Airbnb properties and other short-term lets had blighted her constituency, with constituents often branding them "party houses".

The York Central MP described short-term lets as part of an "extraction economy as people take that property and wealth out of our city".

She added she had heard of young people trying to get on the housing market who had been refused a sale because someone had offered £70,000 over the asking price with the aim of turning it into a short-term let.

Housing minister Eddie Hughes said there was currently "no definitive source of data" on the holiday lets market and a call for evidence was planned by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

He said: "Getting an up-to-date picture of how the market is operating will be vital for developing appropriate ways forward that not only preserve the benefits of short-term letting but address the challenges."

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