The subletting of social housing in London is well underway, leaving the city hemorrhaging money and at the same time demanding that the relevant authorities enforce the booking platforms to remove these listings.
The issue was revealed in an article in The Guardian newspaper, in which it stated amongst other things, that some social housing tenants are moving out of properties and profiting off them by illegally subletting them to holidaymakers. Shockingly, short-term rental booking platforms have so far refused to cooperate when called upon to remove these illegal listings.
Subletting part or all of a home is illegal unless the tenant has received written permission from the landlord to do so. If a tenant sublets part of his or her home without the landlord’s permission, he or she is in violation of the lease agreement.
Billions lost in unpaid tax
Data analysis by the research team at TFF (a not-for-profit organisation that deals with social housing issues) found that social housing subletting fraud cost taxpayers around £6.2 billion in 2023 alone.
The TFF estimates that over a three year period, each illegally sublet property costs British taxpayers £42,000 on average.
The Airbnb blame game
Chairwoman of the TFF Katrina Robinson, who is also a housing association lawyer, accused Airbnb of “putting profit before conscience”. She claimed the platform “refused to remove an illegal listing and instead told me to speak to the host”. 
Background
According to a report by shorttermrentalz.com, in 2022, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea was granted permission to work with Airbnb in an attempt to try and combat alleged fraudsters who illegally sublet their properties as short-term rentals in the capital.
The council required a court order and spent around £20,000 in the process of working with the platform in order to avoid breaching strict UK GDPR laws related to data sharing.
The result was that Airbnb was given the green light to share payment data at two unidentified properties in North Kensington, where illegal subletting activities were said to be taking place. However, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea said Airbnb still refuses to actually remove listings that fail to comply with the law and fail to prevent fraud in social housing.
A similar case is that of Notting Hill where residents claimed that streams of visitors were coming and going from an illegal sublet in a London block owned by Notting Hill housing association Genesis. They even claim that visitors regularly caused disruption and damage to communal areas. These are Booking.com listings according to residents who spoke to The Guardian. The platform has so far also refused to remove illegal listings or disclose information.
What the platforms say
Airbnb and Booking.com have reportedly claimed that, as OTAs, they cannot ask for proof of ownership from hosts, although the Accommodation Agencies Act requires consent from the owner before advertising a property on a platform. A Booking.com spokesman said that in the instance of the Notting Hill Genesis property, the listing had been suspended.
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