Short-term ‘holiday’ lets reaching unprecedented levels in Kensington

Kensington and Chelsea council has said it has one of the biggest build-ups of short-term lets in the country, with 1,400 more homes being put up on holiday sites in just a year.

The local authority estimates 9,584 short-term lets (STLs) were located in the borough in 2024 – up from about 8,100 the previous year.

The council said 89 per cent of those were entire properties instead of individual rooms and would suggest the borough ‘has one of the highest concentrations of such uses in the country’.

In 2022, the council said 6,129 listings for accommodation in the borough were available on AirBnB with an overwhelming majority – 77 per cent – described as entire dwellings.

The council has since hired a specialist consulting firm to track STLs across multiple holiday letting platforms and found properties which exceeded the 90-day limit in any calendar year. The council estimates this number to be at least 500 properties.

Under current rules, homes which are turned into STLs for longer than 90 days in a year must seek planning permission to change the use of property from permanent residential accommodation to commercial short-term letting accommodation.

The council’s long-standing policy has been to resist change of use from residential to short-term lets. Since 2019, there has been one application for a certificate of lawful existing use granted and two applications for a change of use from residential accommodation, both of which were refused.

The Government has issued a set of proposals to regularise the short-term letting market, a move broadly welcomed by the council to allow local people to benefit from letting their homes on a short-term basis  – providing there is no significant loss of the permanent homes needed for residents.

Proposed regulations include a new mandatory national register, a new planning use class for short-term lets and the automatic reclassification of existing STLs into that new class.

The proposals also include new permitted development rights which would give local authorities the power to decide whether individual STLs require planning permission. Under the current proposals, a short-term let can change use into a standard residential dwelling and vice versa without planning permission.

The council hopes the cost associated with the proposals, which would require registered STLs to pay business rates rather than council tax, work as a disincentive for homeowners.

Cllr Elizabeth Campbell, leader of Kensington and Chelsea council, said: “People should continue to have the freedom to let their private home out for some of the year, with the benefits that brings to our local economy. Given the acute shortage of housing, there is a balance and we would support a national register to make sure properties that are registered as homes are not being lost to holiday lettings all year round.”

Picture: Pixabay/OleksandrPidvalnyi