Airbnb landlords being advised on how to break the law - BBC London

in recent years companies like Airbnb have totally transformed the tourism industry by making it easy for people to rent out their homes to visitors here in the capital hosts are usually restricted to hiring out their properties for 90 nights a year but an undercover investigation by BBC London has revealed that large management companies are advising landlords on how to break the law and dupe both the authorities and Airbnb guile in has this exclusive report it's been one of the world's fastest-growing travel companies transforming the way we book holidays and if owners can make a few quid as well letting tourists stay in their homes who's complaining actually quite a lot of people slaves of London are turning into hotels run as commercial operations and it's feared exacerbating the housing crisis which is why short letting such as on Airbnb its highly restricted the law in London on short term let's is crystal clear if you own a property like this one unless you have planning permission you're not allowed to short let it for more than 90 days per year when I booked this trip my friends said I was crazy why would I stay in someone else's house once a B&B was mainly about hosts renting out a spare room or their flat for a few days now more and more it's big business with a growing army of managing agents who will do it all for you I am Franz firm manages nearly 2,000 properties they deal with the tourists check them in and out similar to this and he's been asked many times by landlords to go over the legal limit and always says the same thing we just explained to them that you're not allowed to let your property out on a short-term basis for more than 90 days a calendar year and we point out the legislation that's in place and make it very clear they're not allowed to do it but we've heard numerous reports other management firms are selling a different story we're undercover posing as a landlord who wants to rent this flat out to tourists and these agents are here for reviewing and say we can rake in large amounts per night and the 90-day rule doesn't appear to be much of an obstacle so why is the 90-day law in place on any day thousands of homes in London are being let out to tourists via apps like Airbnb the law would apply to all short let's however they're arranged including a host of other sites separate to Airbnb so it restricts noise and disruption the summit of it would be it's impossible to find somewhere in central London and the 90 day law also helps preserve the housing stock for long-term rentals helen is a nurse on a low income who's desperately been trying to find an affordable flat for more than a year near her central London hospital the removal of thousands of homes for tourists is many fear pushing up prices on the rental homes remaining it's not fair that these properties are being used in the way that they are for short-term lettings and almost as hotels for those of us who are trying to live and work in London we are being priced out we are having to move further and further away from our jobs it's extremely difficult for councils to enforce the 90-day rule and Airbnb came under political pressure to take action their software now stops anyone from unlawfully short letting an inbuilt counter starts the moment a property is listed when ninety days are up you're blocked from short letting it out anymore so all find them host maker is one of the larger operators on the market and rather proud of their service but they say they'll help us do air B&B once you've done your 90 days on the flat what they'll do is take new pictures and pretend it's a new listing so you'll just get another 90 days this lady advised us to change the address slightly for the scam to work really well and they'll keep going all year round the manager knows we'll be breaking the law but if challenge says they can remove the listing if you do you know notification that you'll be found to be doing it we just take it off it takes five minutes failing no real spaces they are misinforming and misleading the people that they are dealing with by suggesting them that what they're doing is not unlawful it is and it should stop but this is far from the only trick there are a number of other sites like home away TripAdvisor Expedia all offering similar services to Airbnb to short let out houses and flats to tourists and visitors so if you'd rather not risk Airbnb systems city relay just advertised or loads of other sites at the same time doesn't matter what site to do it on it's the fact that you have short left for more than 19 nights in aggregate all you're really doing of course is hiding from the enforcement officers because it is more difficult for them to track your property across different sites and that could be storing up a whole host of problems customers could face serious legal consequences including formal planning action non-compliance with that is a criminal offence so do they tell anyone that do they hack Zuri's the words that could happen is listening to would be like faster than get deactivates but we never got any threats or and what's striking about our investigation is the scale we heard reports of many other management companies doing exactly the same thing the blocks the streets are almost becoming forms of hospitality industry Karen buck is an MP in Westminster which is particularly affected by short term lengths she says she's heard anecdotally that this is happening before but says this is the first time that anyone has documented it in action companies that apparently know what the rules are and are telling people you don't need to worry we can find ways around these laws there are ways around these rules it is absolutely shocking it undermines everything we were told about how short that accommodation would work and it's it's really deeply dispiriting the BBC asks companies why they were helping and encouraging customers to break the law there was no response from guests ready err key denied they break the law we wholly and absolutely refute such claims we comply with all legal requirements they said city relay said if clients wanted to short let for more than 90 days per year we explained to them that they would need to seek planning permission and host maker said they were committed to following regulations and that they took the allegations very seriously and will immediately conduct a full internal investigation reviewing our systems and guidance there are many landlords who hate the 90-day rule seeing it as unwanted interference and regulation but the scale of what we've exposed leaves one asking is it currently fit for purpose in a city grappling with an acute housing shortage [Music] you

Channel: BBC London

Views: 222,457

Keywords: BBC, London, News, airbnb, inside out

Id: wJkRuJefrhk

Length: 9min 21sec (561 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 25 2019