There has been a  residential community in Soho for 100’s of years.  We have a local school, several churches and even a village fete.  Over 30,000 residents lived here in 1945. That has now reduced to less than 3,000.

Over the years, flats in Soho have been bought up by property speculators and then rented out on Airbnb, Booking.com and other property services, often illegally.  These flats are never used as homes and Soho’s residential community is disappearing as a result.

Some of these short term rented apartments are used for drug dealing and prostitution.   Residents and families in neighbouring flats have been threatened by criminals that have been given access through short lets.   

In addition to breaking the law, some of these flats are not inspected and are not safe to occupy.  As it's possible they are uninsured it may be that you will have no redress if you are injured in a fire or because of faulty heating equipment releasing carbon monoxide. There have been multiple reports of hidden cameras being operated inside these flats. Renting in this way has new and unpredictable risks.

We think responsible tourism means not damaging or changing the places you visit.

Please come to Soho’s wonderful restaurants, bars and theatres but please don’t use short term lets in Soho.  Stay in a Hotel that is legal, safe for you to use, pays its staff what they are owed and makes a fair contribution to local public services by paying its taxes.

Thank you.

You can report problems with short term lets here.

You can download this message as a poster for your building here.

Here is some research on the impact of Airbnb on rental levels.

Some comments from Cllr Barnes on what to do if you see short letting in your building which has not been notified to the landlord and the insurance…

TB explained that 3 years ago the courts threw out any evidence of a house being listed as evidence that it might be over its 90 days.  You have to have direct evidence of 90 days of commercial occupation through the specified platforms, which is hard to get hold of.  The thing to do that makes all the difference, and was used in Mayfair, is for the neighbours to report it, not to the council, not to the police, but to the freeholder who maintained the building insurance because the day that there’s a problem (such as a fire) and they shouldn’t be there that building insurance is invalidated.  So one person burns the toast, sets the fire alarm off, calls the fire brigade, insurance doesn’t cover it, the building is not covered.  Mortgage companies and freeholders or those that are paying for the insurance are the ones that should be being told, because they are the ones who hold the financial liability in regards to anything that goes on.  There is no other reporting or licensing responsibility.

With almost every mortgage provider in the country (with the exception of Metro Bank) you have to have written permission from your mortgage lender before you let out on Airbnb in each and every single instance, which nobody gets.

If you’re in a building which shares – for example, if you’ve got a notice board with a statement that says “This is the building insurance for this building”, which many people who are in commercially let buildings will have, report those incidents to the company that is named on that insurance with any documentary evidence that you have.  They will be the ones who will then contact those owners and say, “We will withdraw insurance if you do not stop this.”  It is much more effective.  It is not a licensing activity but the liability is there.

You can use this online form to report short lettings in your building.