Camden’s regeneration chief Councillor Danny Beales

MORE than 5,000 homes in Camden are being used as short term lets on holiday websites ande breaking the rules on how properties should be used, a new report has claimed.

The council’s planning enforcement teams have laid bare the scale of the issues in the dossier presented to councillors this week – and the huge resources spent to enforce the law.

The same report highlights how every day a new investigation into illegal building is launched in Camden. From the works being done without permission to businesses changing their nature premises, the enforcement team makes more than 200 visits every year. Last year, Camden received 1,098 new reports of breaches of planning laws.

Regeneration chief Councillor Danny Beales told the New Journal the Town Hall’s investigations cover everything from policing Airbnb-style lets to protecting trees and making sure builders stick to agreed working practices.

The boom in short-term lets has created a new set of problems.

Property owners have worked out they can earn ever more money than the privaet rental market by using lets to tourists and visitors to London, undercutting the hotel trade with easy to use booking websites.

Planning law says nobody should do this for more than 90 days a year – and council tenants have rules banning it written into their leases. But keeping tabs on what rooms have been put up for let is a logistical headache.

Cllr Beales said: “The demand in central London is high and we estimate there are 5,000 properties that may be let beyond 90 days. Proving this is difficult. We have been using new technology to scrape data from the internet to check lettings. We know where there are hot spots for sub letting short term.”

Camden and other councils have contacted Whitehall to call for new regulations over firms such as Air BnB, including a licensing system.

Cllr Beales said: “It would make it easier to make sure people stick to 90 days, that the places are safe and that we can respond to any anti social behaviour.”

Paying for sites to be checked – be it building works, change of use or shirt term lettings – falls on the Town Hall, as does pursuing any legal action.

Cllr Beales added: “It is expensive and enforcement does not come with a fee, as planning applications do. “In difficult financial times, where the budget has been cut drastically by central government, it has been hard, but we are nationally leading for inspections and monitoring construction management plans.”

The council teams are also trying to keep up with tree works, listed buildings, untidy sites, estate agent boards and and adverts. T

he report said ‘informal action’ has helped the Town Hall resolve just over a third of cases. Improving the appeals system would be an important step, added Cllr Beales. If a planning application is refused, and an appeal is launched, both sides can feel like they are trapped in limbo.

Cllr Beales said: “The average time for an appeal to be heard is over a year. It means you can have someone doing something illegal for a long time.

“Speeding up the system is important, and the absence of fines needs to be looked at. There should be fixed penalties for people who chance it, go for permission retrospectively or do not apply but get found out.

“I believe if someone does something without the right permission they should face a financial penalty to recover the costs for the tax payer.”