Stag and hen parties in York making residents miserable, MP says

Rachael Maskell, the Labour MP for York Central, met with Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Housing, to express concerns that property owners are “maximising profits while marketing York as a ‘party city’” on short-term lets website AirBnB.

York is a popular destination for stag and hen parties due to its compact city centre and density of pubs and bars.

But according to Ms Maskell, the number of “stag and hen houses” available for rent are pricing out families who want to live in the city and putting them off coming into the city centre.

Some city centre houses charge up to £1000 a night on the website for large parties in the peak hen and stag summer months.

Ms Maskell has now called for a mandatory licensing scheme for AirBnBs in the city.

Members of the public can list their second homes - or even just a room in their family home - on the website for short-term rental.

A license is not needed to do so in York, although schemes do exist in other cities, including London, where second home-owners are not allowed to rent it out for more than 90 nights a year.

Ms Maskell said: “With house prices moving beyond the reach of constituents and communities turning into the wild west with airbnbs, it is important to flag up the challenges facing our city to the Secretary of State.

"In meeting with him, I have laid out a real alternative for York, where houses are developed to meet the needs of the city and existing stock is protected from people wanting to exploit homes for significant profits.

"With Airbnb property owners can make as much money over a couple of weekends as they can from private renters over a month.

"These are highly organised affairs, which are designed to maximise profits while marketing York as a ‘party city’.

When I have families desperate for a home to live in, it makes my blood boil, that people are using the valuable resource of a home to simply make themselves rich. When this happens families are turned off travelling into York and we get hit economically too.”

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities was approached for comment.