Short term lets in Greater London – still no change

Royal Assent to the Deregulation Bill, together with a number of other Bills, was signified yesterday at the very last minute before parliament was prorogued. It has now therefore become the Deregulation Act 2015.

Contrary to original expectations (and the original drafting of the Bill), sections 44 and 45, amending section 25 of Greater London Council (General Powers) Act 1973 have not come into force on the passing of the Act, but must await a Commencement Order.

The Deregulation Act 2015 (Consequential Amendments) Order 2015 (SI 2015 No. 971), which was made and laid before parliament today (and I confess that I was unaware that this could be done after parliament had been prorogued) does not bring these two sections into force.

Parliament has been prorogued until Monday 30 March, which is the day on which it is due to be dissolved in any event, so I would be rather surprised if any further statutory instruments could be made and laid before parliament on Monday – but I am rapidly learning that the Whitehall sausage machine never stops churning out subordinate legislation, so we shall have to see what (if anything) emerges on Monday.

If, however, I am right in my long-held belief that the proposed amendment to the 1973 Act, which currently restricts short-term lettings in Greater London, could not be achieved before the General Election, then we shall have to wait and see what the ministers who are in office after 7 May will do about it (if anything). If no commencement order is ever made, this would certainly not be the first legislative provision that has languished on the statute book unimplemented.

© MARTIN H GOODALL

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Short term use of residential property in London

I have blogged on this topic several times in the past year, but I was wondering why the journos on the Evening Standard were getting excited on this subject in an article in today’s edition of the paper. The Deregulation Bill, which will enable the Secretary of State to relax the rules on short-term lettings in Greater London is still in the House of Lords, and the third day of the Report Stage is not due until Wednesday of this week, so Royal Assent is unlikely to be achieved until after both houses come back from their half term break after 23 February. By my calculation, that isn’t going to leave time for subordinate legislation to be laid before parliament so as to come into effect before the General Election (although I am open to correction on this, if any of you know better).

So what exactly prompted today’s article in the ES? I think it must have been De-CLoG’s publication today of a document entitled “ Promoting the sharing economy in London - Policy on short-term use of residential property in London”, which is yet another expression of the government’s wishful thinking, without actually telling us when we can expect the promised change to come about (if indeed it ever does, given the uncertainty over the likely result of the General Election).

The position today is, and will remain for the time being, that short-term lets (of less than 90 days) in Greater London are a material change of use (to a sui generis use) which requires planning permission. The ES seems to think that the change in the law is immediate, but it is not even imminent. That could conceivably change, but I am still not betting on its happening this side of the General Election; and what will happen after that is beyond the wit of man to foretell.

© MARTIN H GOODALL

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