London borough reaches data sharing deal with Airbnb in bid to tackle use of social housing properties as illegal short-term lets

Online letting service Airbnb has agreed to work with a council to share data in a legal innovation that could pinpoint illegal short-term lets in council properties.

Airbnb Payments UK will help the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea by sharing payments data initially for two estates in north Kensington.

This must be done under a court order because of General Data Protection Regulation rules.

It is expected to provide the council with payment evidence from social housing properties potentially listed as holiday and short-term lets, allowing it to take enforcement action.

Andrew Herring of law firm Pinsent Masons, who advised the council, said: “Thanks to Kensington and Chelsea Council’s fresh thinking in regards to tackling tenancy fraud, we’ve been able to apply civil fraud court procedures in a new and innovative way - supporting data-led public sector efforts to investigate and combat fraud and setting a precedent for others to follow.”

The order applies only to the two estates, but Airbnb and the council will collaborate against illegal subletting across the borough.

Theo Lomas, head of government relations for northern Europe at Airbnb, said: “Hosting in subsidised or social housing in the UK is illegal and has no place on Airbnb and we want to work with councils to remove social housing.

“However the current situation is complex and costly, and requires a court order to avoid breaking GDPR rules. This is yet another example of the need for the UK to update its rules and introduce a single registration system, so authorities have the information they need to tackle bad actors and return housing to those in need.”

The council this month recovered four homes using checks similar to those that will be used by Airbnb.

Kim Taylor-Smith, lead member for housing, said: “There is a huge demand for social housing in our borough and it’s simply not fair that people in genuine need are being denied a place to call home because others are illegally subletting their council properties to make money.”

He said tenancy fraud cost an average of £42,000 a year for each home.

Mark Smulian