Former Liberal Democrat party leader and Lake District MP Tim Farron has met with bosses from Airbnb to challenge them on the damaging effect of short lets on the rental market. 

He says local people and families have been evicted from their homes in the Lake District so that their landlord can turn it into a holiday let.

During the meeting, Farron urged Airbnb to publicly declare that it will not accept onto its books any properties where the landlord had made it available by getting rid of the local people or family who lived there under a Section 21 eviction.

Farron says there has been a 32 per cent increase in the number of holiday lets in his South Lakeland constituency over the past year. 

He told Airbnb that this sharp rise in holiday lets is actually hurting the tourist economy, with the shortage of homes exacerbating the current staffing crisis.

“I’m grateful for the opportunity to meet with Airbnb and I’m pleased they said they understood the problems that a surge in holiday lets is having for local families struggling to find a home” says the LibDem.

“However I remain deeply concerned that letting companies like Airbnb are doing nowhere near enough to discourage landlords who shamefully throw out their tenants so they can make more money letting out their property on the holiday market.

“While the government continues to drag its feet over taking the proper action that would stop this from happening, companies like Airbnb have the chance to do the morally right thing and say no to these landlords.”