London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who wants the government to give him the powers to impose rent controls, is now demanding licensing for the capital’s Airbnbs and other short lets.

He claims the rapid growth in short-lets in London, fuelled by online platforms such as Airbnb, is exacerbating the capital’s housing crisis. 

Citing figures from website InsideAirbnb, Khan says that right now there are  81,792 listings in London on Airbnb alone. Of these, 50,401 are for entire properties, meaning at least one in every 74 homes in the capital is available for short-let.  

Now he wants Rishi Sunak to work with him and borough councils to implement a licensing system: this would allow local authorities to limit the numbers of licenses issued and avoid what Khan claims to be “entire streets or blocks being turned over exclusively to short- term lets.”

Currently homeowners in London are entitled to rent out their homes for up to 90 days a year, but Khan says the borough councils don’t have enough funding to monitor compliance.  

“Charging for licences and enforcing business rates for properties let for more than 90 days a year would also generate a financial reward for councils who have seen their budgets repeatedly cut in recent years, allowing them to run more effective enforcement activity against unregistered landlords” says Khan in a statement.

Khan says he’s looked at the likes of Barcelona, Amsterdam and Paris which have forms of licencing scheme in place.

He says: “I am doing all I can to tackle the housing crisis in London, building a record number of the genuinely affordable, high-quality homes that Londoners deserve. 

“But these efforts will continue to be hampered by the lack of regulation in the short-term letting market. Short-term lets play an important role in London’s tourism industry, but that mustn’t come at the expense of Londoners who need a place to live. We need transparency about how many properties are being rented out for longer than the rules permit, and accountability to local authorities and residents. 

“This is why I’m calling on the government to work with me and borough councils to design a licencing system to bring some order to this rapidly growing sector and prevent us losing yet more homes for Londoners to the short-term let sector.”