Re:Airbnb host ordered to pay £100k of unlawful profits afte...
by vidarh on Monday July 29, 2019 @09:06AM
(#20554179)
In this case the issue was outright fraud: They got a council flat that is meant to provide subsidized housing for people who generally can not afford private housing, and profited from it against the terms of his rental agreement.
But in the general case, I keep arguing the same. In the UK there's a very strong trend to focus on landlords and foreign buyers leaving housing empty, or cases like in this article, but when you dig into it, it makes up a tiny proportion of properties.
The government has contributed to pushing the focus to these types of things, even though e.g. all empty properties in the UK being filled would maybe cover ~6 months of demand (and you can't fill all of them - most are empty for things like refurbishments or during a sale; very few are left intentionally empty for long periods of time). I doubt AirBnB demand would add up to more than a rounding error either. But it's a convenient excuse, and much cheaper than to drive higher growth in construction.
But in the general case, I keep arguing the same. In the UK there's a very strong trend to focus on landlords and foreign buyers leaving housing empty, or cases like in this article, but when you dig into it, it makes up a tiny proportion of properties.
The government has contributed to pushing the focus to these types of things, even though e.g. all empty properties in the UK being filled would maybe cover ~6 months of demand (and you can't fill all of them - most are empty for things like refurbishments or during a sale; very few are left intentionally empty for long periods of time). I doubt AirBnB demand would add up to more than a rounding error either. But it's a convenient excuse, and much cheaper than to drive higher growth in construction.