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As one of the tourism captials of the world, short-term lets are a key part of London's visitor economy, providing more choice for tourists and business travellers. However, rapid growth in short-lets in recent years, aided by sharing platforms such as Airbnb, has worsened the housing crisis. 

In July 2023, there were . Of these, 50,401 are for entire properties, meaning at least one in every seventy-four homes in the capital is available for short-term let. There is current a lack of sufficient regulation and resources for boroughs to monitor how many of these may be being let against the rule for more than 90 days a year.

As such, the Mayor is calling on the Government to work with him and boroughs to implement a licensing system for short-term lets. This would allow local authorities to limit the numbers of licenses issued in their area and avoid entire streets or blocks being turned over exclusively to short- term lets. 

Professor Claire Colomb and Dr Tatiana Moreira de Souza's comparative research, , shows how European city governments have tried to regulate Short-Term Lets to strike a balance between their cities’ openness to visitors and the protection of the housing stock for long-term residents who are faced with an acute housing crisis.