London Borough enters data-sharing agreement with Airbnb to tackle the use of social housing as illegal short-term rentals

Online rental service Airbnb has agreed to work with a council to share data in a legal innovation that could identify illegal short-term rentals at council properties.

Airbnb Payments UK will help the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea by initially sharing payment data from two estates in North Kensington.

This must be done by court order due to the rules of the General Data Protection Regulation.

It is intended to provide the council with proof of payment for social housing potentially listed as holiday and short-term rentals, allowing them to take enforcement action.

The article continues below…

Andrew Herring of law firm Pinsent Masons, who advised the council, said: ‘Thanks to fresh thinking from Kensington and Chelsea council in relation to tackling tenancy fraud, we have been able to apply the legal procedures of civil fraud in a new and innovative way – by supporting data-driven public sector efforts to investigate and combat fraud and set a precedent for others to follow.

The order only applies to the two estates, but Airbnb and the council will work together against illegal subletting in the borough.

Theo Lomas, Government Relations Manager for Northern Europe at Airbnb, said: “Accommodation in subsidized or social housing in the UK is illegal and has no place on Airbnb and we want to work with advice on eliminating social housing.

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

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

Kim Taylor-Smith, Member Responsible for Housing, said: “There is a huge demand for public housing in our borough and it is simply not fair that people in need are denied housing because of others illegally sublet their municipal properties. make money.”

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

Marc Smulian