Calls are being made for new legislation to regulate short-term holiday lets after a house in east Belfast was advertised online at a cost of £19,000 for 10 weeks.
Ruth Brooks, a councillor for the Titanic district, is warning that the proliferation of short-term lets is damaging communities in east Belfast as thousands of people languish on waiting lists to get houses in the city.
The DUP representative said: “Just last night, the Northern Ireland Housing Executive presented their yearly update to our committee highlighting that in Belfast there are over 10,000 people living in housing stress.
“Every week I hear from my constituents who have insufficient points to be considered for a social property, but feel that a private rental is outside of their reach. With these figures, I’m not surprised.
“They are sofa surfing, sleeping in crowded homes, and feel that they cannot reach their full potential, without having a place they can call home.”
Ms Brooks said she had come across a short term let in the Holywood Road area listing the price for a stay for two adults between the beginning of June and mid August this year at just over £19,000.
DUP councillor Ruth Brooks
Ms Brooks said: “East Belfast is a beautiful place to live, but many are trapped as they are placed too low on the social housing list yet unable to afford private rent.
“Housing stress across the city is real, affecting quality of life. While HMOs fall under housing regulations, Airbnbs are classified as tourism and fall under the Department for the Economy.
“While Tourism NI inspects Airbnbs, this is only for quality, not for how many operate in a given area. Without tighter regulations from the Economy Minister, this issue will only grow, further squeezing local renters out of the market.”
She added: “Why would you put your house on the rental market when you can hand it over to an Airbnb and make 10 times the amount? The legislation on HMOs is a threshold of 10% per street – there is no restriction on the number of Airbnbs because they don’t classify as HMOs.”
She said: “What we need to do is the Economy Minister needs to tighten the legislation. They gave a commitment in the Licensing Committee in August 2024 that they would possibly review the legislation.
“The housing strategy in everything the Department for Communities is doing is different, because short term lets are considered tourism, so they fall under Economy. That’s a massive loophole.”
She added: “A lot of the conversation and narrative we get is, ‘We can’t get a house because of foreigners’, but that is actually not the case, they can’t get a house because of these short-term BnBs. They don’t fall within the housing strategy, they aren’t counted as private rentals, and aren’t counted as owner occupied or social housing.”
She said: “When you read stories that a woman and three children from East Belfast have been temporarily housed in Coleraine, then moved to Castlederg and Newry, it is because there is no temporary accommodation in Belfast.
“Because landlords know they won’t make as much money if they rent it to the Housing Executive. We can’t even get temporary accommodation in our own city, because the short term market is more lucrative.”