Neighbour's terraced house is now listed on Airbnb

[homelover]

Just discovered that our neighbours of 5 years have listed their home on Airbnb. They have decorated it as a party place with outside firepit, and built an outside viewing platform overlooking our garden (without planning permission and it breaks rules). First month occupants were 3 pleasant quiet men in the area to fit out a shop. But Airbnb listing of 3 bed house is for 7 people which would make it an HMO. We fear what will happen next, as this was a tranquil country road in Milton Keynes. We've lived here 35 years. What could we do to stop this?

Does HMO apply to short term lets like this?

obviously it depends on your local laws ect but most likely your neighbour hasn’t done anything wrong legally by letting the house put on air bnb.

I think your first step would be to complain to your local council if you experience any issies with noise or antisocial behaviour.

Report the planning breach to enforcement so they get involved

then it’s a case of wait and see if there are any issues

I’m not sure there is anything you can do about it being listed on air BnB but I would be dealing with the planning issue immediately

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/716706

A friend of mine had an issue with an airbnb in her block of flats... ended up taking them to court (the owner, not aibnbn). Took years and years of stress.

I would get on this early if I were you...

It's not an HMO, it's a holiday let. Different thing entirely. But contact planning at the council regarding the platform or any other work you feel might breach it.

I don't think you can stop someone from doing Air B&B from their house, though I guess they could be dodging taxes in some way if they have other property.

If there's noise or ASB you have to collect evidence and contact the council dept that deals with that. But until that happens I'm not sure you can prevent them from doing it.

I would think the legal definition of a hmo is where it's let to individuals who don't know each other rather than related to the number of people. This would be instead be classed as self catering or a holiday let , short term let to a family or group of friends. Agree with pp re reporting for planning breach and any future anti social behaviour. I doubt it's broken any rules unfortunately on being rented out on AirBnB unless a covenant on the property or local byelaws prevents it being let.

Oooh it is tricky. We have an airbnb at the end of our road (near to a very popular wedding destination and also Heathrow so people travelling a long distance will stay there the night before catching a flight). The people staying there generally are fine, but we do have issues with parking as they're often driving (and sometimes the airport people will leave their car on our road whilst they're away!!).
Not us personally, but I do know a neighbour complained to the council on the grounds of parking and because they didn't have specific planning approval for change of use/added occupants I believe they got a warning. I'm sorry I don't know the specifics - it was a while ago and just after lockdown.

It's actually quite shocking how little regulation there is around holiday lets (this is a good summary) https://www.sykescottages.co.uk/letyourcottage/information/regulations-for-holiday-lets/?rfx=15999&mkwid=s_dc&pcrid=688889909714&pkw=holiday%20let%20regulations&pmt=e&slid=&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=20963542071&gbraid=0AAAAAD74KsXHeOy11dS6w1O9btk2fq0QC&gclid=Cj0KCQjwm93DBhD_ARIsADR_DjFQ_eSsrFYVE-N0i5aE9fBVIFsDagzHHdqfMHVerlejXxknh2uNiLMaAlVbEALw_wcB

Does your council have any extra restrictions to protect residential areas?

You can check with council planning officer if it requires pp. Some areas it would.

Our neighbours did this and it ended badly - 2 separate neighbours - both parties ran out of control, one with the police being called. Everyone else complained to the extent that AirBnB delisted them.

You do have to provide proof though so if things do go awry make you you record everything from the get go.

If they are running a business from their home they should be paying for commercial waste collection. If this isn't happening, you could mention it to your local council. Not least because Air B&B guests often don't conform to the rules on leaving waste and you don't want uncollected party rubbish sitting around for weeks because they've put it in the wrong place etc.

It’s not a HMO. A HMO is where each room is let on an individual basis with access to common areas. You don’t need planning permission to use your residence as a holiday let.

The people staying there generally are fine, but we do have issues with parking as they're often driving (and sometimes the airport people will leave their car on our road whilst they're away!!).

If it's a public road then that's not illegal, is it?

The house next door to me is Airbnb and I love it. It’s often empty and in 4 years have had issue with only one guest shouting.

The family who used to live there were really noisy and it’s so quiet now!

You haven’t even given it a chance yet.

There is quite a bit of regulation around holiday lets, but it tends not to be enforced.

Gas certificate, and appliances tested on an annual basis
Electrical testing if wiring over five years old (and PAT testing)
Water testing
Interlinked smoke alarms in all bedrooms
Fire doors on bedrooms, living rooms and kitchen (latter should be self closing)
Thumb turn locks on exit doors
If open plan may need a misting system
Commercial waste collection
Public liability insurance

I imagine insurers will not be too chuffed about the fire pit, whether from burning down the property or burning the guests.

But generally, unless In Gwynedd, planning permission isn’t needed for a holiday let.

They may well have not done the fire compliance bit (costs £££) so you could report them for that, but really I’d just monitor the situation to see how it pans out.

Had one across the road before I moved. Nightmare. Winter was always contractors parking vans with trailers, rigs etc in a tight street, blocking my drive so many times.
The woman next door moved as she'd had enough of their 'party space' telling me 'I appreciate its their holiday but it's also my life'.

Council did nothing, despite pointing out many planning breaches.
I dont miss it.

I don’t recall anyone saying it was illegal. They were saying it was annoying.

Report the planning breach to the council

If there are regular noise issues you can report those too

I stay in Airbnb a lot with my children, we aren't using them as party houses. The children have allergies so we have to self cater

Report to the local authority about potential planning breaches. Keep notes and sound recordings/film, ask one of your ward councillors to look into it and invite them to visit when there's a party going on.

OR

Buy a very loud sound system and play it at "stupid o'clock in the morning" if their guests disturb you by partying at night !

Surely you can see it would be quite annoying though ?

Short-term lets do not require planning permission if the property is used like this not exceeding 90 days of the calendar year. To measure this, you can count the dates left by reviews on air BnB or Booking.com. If you think the 90-day rule has been breached, contact the Council's planning team by email sharing the internet links that the property is advertised on. The council would normally send a formal questionnaire to the freeholder or persons responsible and they would have to answer how long they have been renting the property for short term lets. The issue is that people can lie to the Council and the Council can find it hard to contest the lies provided.

It only becomes an HMO if the tenants are living there long term (e.g for more than 3 months at a time) and are unrelated to each other. A small HMO consists of 6 occupants. Anymore than 6 would be a large HMO and requires planning permission.

Interesting - I am not an expert but the link I posted said PAT is not required. I have definitely stayed in holiday lets without thumb turn locks and fire doors.

So the only thing that has happened is that 3 chaps stayed and the house is listed on airbnb, is that it? What exactly is the problem?