A local authority in Manchester is pioneering a ban to prevent buyers of homes at a new development from selling them to private landlords, or promoting them on short-let platforms like Airbnb.
A regeneration project in the Brunswick area of the city will have 500 new homes - some council properties but the majority for private sale - but the buyers must sign a covenant saying they will not short-let them.
The council says: “Well-managed short-term lets in appropriate areas of the city can be positive when they offer tourists or business travellers an alternative option for accommodation. However, it is recognised that poorly managed properties can negatively impact the host community.
“The city council is now using Brunswick as the blueprint to ensure family homes in similar key regeneration areas are not lost to the investor market or short-term lets, helping to protect and build a long-term community of people.
“To ensure these homes remain in the hands of Manchester residents, strict covenants are in place that prevent properties being sold to private landlords who would likely turn the properties into short-term lets or make available as student homes (Houses of Multiple Occupation), given the close proximity to the city’s universities.”
In addition, the sales team of the developer - S4B - will initially market properties to local people before advertising them on the open market.
Councillor Suzanne Richards, Manchester city council’s executive member for housing and regeneration, says: “Given the close proximity to the city centre and to the city’s universities, Brunswick is a target for the investor and short-term lets market, so it’s vital we do what we can to protect the community from being broken up by private landlords.”
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A simple tweak to Class 3 planning stating that no letting is allowed except where it offers security of tenure, such as ASTs or Assured Tenancies, would do the trick, with some allowance for 1 or 2 lodgers.
Yes, let's stop the free market from working and try and force it to do what we want under some idealistic idea that it will mean some 60s style, local fmaily communtiy springs up. And where exactly re the students going to go? Or the vulnerable, low income people who need HMO's (because we sure as hell know the council can't handle them)? Hull council have already imposed Article 4 restrictions in a similar way, and it has had the effect of driving down the local economy and resulted in students protesting AGAINST restrictions. The union said in it's own words that the effect has been that students now have to live in less desireable areas, further out from the university. Lunacy. There's also the fact that squeezing the customer base these developers can sell to, results in higher house prices, which again, has a knock on effect to the economy. But I wouldn't expect a politician to understand that.
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