Generation Rent has broadened its attack on private landlords to include Airbnb hosts and second home owners.
The new attack comes as rival campaign organisation Shelter wants to improve its relationship with private landlords.
Generation Rent claims that over the past decade “the rapid growth of second homes and AirBnb-style short term lets has increasingly driven families out of their communities.”
It says this is particularly the case in south west England and Norfolk, as well as London.
Using data relating to 2022, the activist group says there were over 330,000 holiday homes in England.
This comprised 256,913 second homes, registered for council tax, and 74,461 commercial holiday lets, registered for business rates.
It then quotes HMRC data from 2023/24 indicating that 130,000 taxpayers declaring holiday let income in their tax returns.
The campaigners say: “This expansion in the holiday home sector has been accelerated by a lack of effective regulation of short-term commercial holiday lets, alongside tax advantages that make holiday lets more profitable for landlords than residential tenancies.
“Together, these factors have incentivised landlords to favour tourists over residential tenants, further reducing affordable housing supply for local residents and pushing up rents.”
However, the activists admit that – following measures by the last Conservative government and the current Labour administration – the number of holiday lets stopped growing in 2023, then dropped significantly in 2024.
Second home numbers kept growing in 2023 and 2024, likely a result in part of new eligibility rules prompting owners to switch to council tax.
Their number has since fallen by over 11,000 in 2025, with only a small net increase seen in holiday lets.
And it says no fewer than 71% of English councils are now charging higher Second Home council tax premiums, with 170,307 properties subject to it this year.
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This article is taken from Landlord Today