Bath Residents Urge Curbs on Airbnb Party Houses, Times Reports

(Bloomberg) -- Residents in the western English city of Bath want the government to control the growing trend of “party houses” listed on short-term rental websites such as Airbnb, the Times newspaper reported.

About 90 apartments in Bath are being rented out as “party houses” for seven or more people, compared with an estimated 48 in 2017, the newspaper said, citing the Federation of Bath Residents’ Associations Chairman Robin Kerr. About 1,500 smaller apartments are being rented out on a short-term basis to tourists, reducing the number of homes available to residents.

Property owners should be required to apply for their residential homes to be changed to short-term rentals, with a compulsory registration system in place, the Times cited Kerr as saying.

Short-term rental app Airbnb has been criticized for driving up housing costs, disrupting neighborhoods and creating property shortages across Europe, particularly in cities heavily frequented by tourists.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lisa Pham in London at lpham14@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Beth Mellor at bmellor@bloomberg.net, ;Andrew Davis at abdavis@bloomberg.net, Michael Winfrey, Sara Marley

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