Airbnb – which is often blamed for adding to the housing crisis in Cornwall – has written to the Government asking it to give Cornwall Council the data, powers and tools the local authority needs to regulate short-term rentals, writes Local Democracy Reporter Lee Trewhela.

It would include the introduction of a registration scheme for people who want to let their homes to tourists.

The American company, which operates a global online marketplace for short-and-long-term home stays, has also written to local MPs and councillors across Cornwall to inform them of its support for new rules being implemented in the Duchy.

The move has been welcomed by Cornwall Council’s portfolio holder for housing Olly Monk, who said: “To be fair to Airbnb, they were the chief protagonists in calling for a registration scheme for all holiday lets. The reason for that is, in some respects, they feel they’ve been scapegoated.”

Airbnb is often cited as a reason for overtourism in Cornwall with detractors saying an increase in Airbnb properties in coastal areas is partly to blame for the housing shortage.

However, a new report released this week by consultants EY and commissioned by Airbnb finds that Airbnb has little to no significant impact on the price and availability of housing in the vast majority of the UK – and that nationally over 95 per cent of house price increases can be attributed to factors unrelated to short-term lets.

Airbnb data shows that the majority of hosts on the site in Cornwall list one space, for less than four nights a month, and 40 per cent say that the extra income helps them to afford their home.

The report also identifies that there are just 25 out of 318 local authorities where more than two per cent of total dwellings are listed on Airbnb, including some parts of Cornwall. While the report suggests that any impact Airbnb may have on affordability is localised and outweighed by wider benefits to the local economy, the company recognises the historic housing challenges facing communities and says it wants to help ensure they are equipped to regulate short-term lets, should they wish.

Here is a summary of the report findings for Cornwall: Airbnb data shows the average Airbnb host in Cornwall rents their home for less than four days per month, indicating that the majority of hosts live in the homes they list on the platform.

Entire home listings on Airbnb that are hosted for 90 nights or more per year account for just 1.1 per cent of Cornwall’s total housing stock.

EY finds travel on Airbnb generated £222m of gross value added (GVA – the value of goods and services in the area) and supported £3,682 jobs in Cornwall in 2023.

In Cornwall, the economic benefits per household are around twice the impact on housing affordability.

“We welcome regulations and we have led in calling for national legislation for short-term lets to help make communities stronger,” said Amanda Cupples, general manager for Airbnb in Northern Europe. “We want to make it easy for local authorities such as Cornwall to track the positive impacts of home sharing, and for additional targeted measures to be introduced to support the sustainable growth of short-term letting activity, where needed.”

Airbnb says it has long led the way in championing progressive rules for the short-term letting industry and welcomes the Government’s decision to introduce a registration scheme for short-term lets in England. Earlier this year, Airbnb welcomed the implementation of new rules for short-term lets and believes the relevant authorities should have the tools to know what is going on in their local communities and take action when needed.

Newquay councillor Olly Monk, who oversees housing for the Conservative regime at Cornwall Council, told us: “To be fair to Airbnb, they were the chief protagonists in calling for a registration scheme for all holiday lets. The reason for that is, in some respects, they feel they’ve been scapegoated. It’s a bit like saying ‘I Hoovered the house’ rather than ‘I vacuumed the house’. They’re the generic brand name for anyone who does holiday lets.

“I was very happy that the previous government started bringing forward a registration scheme for all holiday lets to be managed by the council, chiefly because it gives us very accurate, up-to-date data as to the geographical locations of properties that are being used in the holiday let market.

“My intention always was and still is to give local communities that information, ultimately to let them decide on an acceptable level of residential properties being used potentially for holiday let purposes.”

He added: “I’m broadly supportive of a central register; the devil is in the details of how much it costs someone who wants to let out their property. It stops that unregulated, unlicensed property being used. There could be consequences for not registering, so it’s a way of tightening up the whole system.

“The last government ran out of legislative time to do it – it will be interesting to see if the new government runs with it and how quickly they attend to move it forward, if at all.”