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Islanders are generating up to £400 per night by offering up their homes on holiday rentals platform AirBnb... But they could soon face a clampdown as part of moves to help combat the island's housing crisis.
Housing Minister David Warr said that at least 130 'whole homes' – as opposed to single rooms – had been identified by officers as being advertised through websites such as AirBnb, which allows people to offer short-term lodgings or home stays for a fee.
At the time of writing there were 247 Jersey listings on the website, with prices ranging between £26 per night to more than £400 per night.
Under the Planning and Building Law, the use of a property for short-term holiday letting is defined as ‘development’, and requires planning permission.
Pictured: A selection on the properties currently available to let on AirBnb.
Deputy Warr said officers would now be "cracking down" on those doing so illegally, to help conserve the Island's built housing stock and avoid "building on greenfields".
However, Environment Minister Jonathan Renouf said this did not concern situations where someone may be renting a single room or letting their home as a "one-off" while on holiday.
"The whole point of this exercise is to encourage the people who have properties on short-term holiday lets is to check whether they actually have the relevant planning permission.
"What doesn't require planning permission is if you go away for three weeks in the summer and put your place on a holiday let website for that period – that isn't a change of use because you are coming back to it. If you move out – say you move in with a friend – and think "I can put my home on the market on Airbnb and make some money", that is a change of use and that requires planning permission,' he added.
However, he said that those breaking the planning law were being given "fair chance to regularise their position".
"If you flagrantly carry on – the same as if you build two extra floors on a bungalow without planning permission – you are going to have an enforcement against you. We would do the same here and there would be a financial penalty for breach of planning law – but we hope it doesn't come to that,' he added.
Deputy Warr said the Island's growing housing crisis had brought the issue to his attention, as these were properties that were potentially no longer being used "for the community".
He added that the government was taking a 'reasonable approach' to the issue, but that it was "cracking down on it".
"These are laws which are already in place – they just haven't been applied, maybe because it wasn't perceived as a major issue in the past. As things have stepped up with the housing [crisis] I think it has become more at the front and centre of what is going on.
"I've been talking a lot about vacant homes and how we use our built stock more effectively with regard to housing. If we start letting all of this go out for stuff it wasn't intended for, I think we will start building on greenfields – it is as simple as that," Deputy Warr continued.
Islanders can contact planning@gov.je for advice and clarification on housing units and short-term lettings.
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