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Metro
3 days ago
- Business
- Metro
Could London be the next city to introduce a tourist tax?
In many European cities, paying a tourist tax is nothing new. If anything, it's expected. From Paris to Barcelona to Amsterdam, the majority of our favourite hotspots come with an extra fee, whether we pay it at our accommodation or the airport. Its purpose is simple: to provide the city with money for things like general upkeep, sustainability initiatives, and an increased demand on public services. And as many places grapple with the effects of overtourism, taxes are increasing, and new ones are being introduced. For example, Venice doubled its tax for daytrippers earlier this year, while the Azores implemented one on January 1. Recently, there's been talk of London joining the club. Last month, the Centre for London released a report called Arts for All, urging the Greater London Authority to 'explore the implementation of a tourist tax' to help invest in the capital's arts and cultural scene. Last year, Mayor Sadiq Khan voiced his potential support, too. In October, he told The Standard he'd be 'happy to look into' whether a tax for overnight stays would be feasible. But, while the arts do need funding – the report says that physical engagement with arts and culture in London sits below or close to the national average – what would a potential tourist tax mean for the wider community, including daytrippers from the UK? 'Tourists are going to be more accepting of the tax if they can understand where it is being spent,' explains travel expert, Deepak Shukla, CEO of Pearl Lemon Adventures, a London-based travel and tourism company, to find out. Essentially, if the money tourists pay goes towards upgrading infrastructure and transportation, as well as financing and upgrading major attractions, we might all get on board with it. There's no denying London feels the effects of overtourism. Visitor numbers to the UK are on the up: VisitBritain estimates that there were 41.2 million visits to the UK for the full year 202, 1% up on 2019, with most of them heading to the capital. London has also been described as the 'Wild West' of Airbnbs. In Westminster in particular, councillors said more than 10,500 homes were used as holiday lets, and residents claim that one mansion block close to Hyde Park hosts more guests per night than The Ritz. With rent prices in the capital already eye-wateringly high, short-term lets only serve to make living in the city even more expensive. London also has the most congested roads in Europe, with analysis by analytics company Inrix finding drivers in the capital spent 101 hours sitting in traffic in 2024. Though there is some merit to the idea, Shukla adds that a tourist tax is 'not without its problems.' He says that the success of a tax depends on various factors, with the volume of tourism being a big consideration. Currently, around 30 million tourists flock to London every year. Should the same number still come with a tourist tax, it will ensure a steady flow of income. However, if the tax deters tourists, it could lead to fewer visits and less income than expected. Another concern is London's competitiveness compared to other global locations. Currently, Spanish cities like Madrid and Valencia (which boast better weather than the UK) don't have a tourist tax. Neither do up-and-coming European city break destinations like Helsinki or Tallinn. 'If an additional expense like tourist tax is imposed, travellers may opt to visit places that do not have these costs, impacting London's tourism sector,' states Shulka. Similarly, Mayor Sadiq Khan noted that the money raised would need to be strictly monitored. If it were spent elsewhere, with people not seeing the benefits locally or regionally, it wouldn't be fair. He said: 'It's really important to give that reassurance to the [tourism] sector, because they've had a tough few years, particularly post-pandemic. 'If we can reassure the [tourism] sector that we can work on a scheme that benefits inward tourism, it benefits more tourists to come, I think they'd be supportive of it as well.' Officials estimate that a levy could raise significant amounts of cash for local services and the tourism industry. For example, should the UK follow in the footsteps of Paris, which charges visitors up to €16 per night in premium hotels, or Barcelona, which adds up to €4 a night plus a regional fee, an extra £240 million could be generated annually. This is on the basis of adding a 5% tax to overnight stays, according to Euro Weekly. In short, no. English local authorities can't introduce their own tourist taxes,it needs to go through Parliament instead. Legislation to Parliament would have to be introduced for this to happen. However, some UK local authority areas, including Manchester and Liverpool, have established Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) which cover tourism-related businesses. These are legal loopholes, and are operated by local organisations, meaning they can collect levies in their areas. 'If London were to impose a tourist tax, it would probably be similar to the charge on overnight stays currently implemented in places like Manchester,' says Shulka. So even though an overnight fee could be charged, day visitors are unlikely to be affected. Like we mentioned earlier, to prevent overtourism, cities like Venice have imposed fees for day visitors. But in London's case, Shulka says the main motivation would likely be different, specifically generating funds to improve tourism infrastructure upgrades and city services. Shulka adds: 'I think one of the reasons why day-trippers don't typically pay a tourist tax is that they spend only a few hours in the city and therefore use fewer public resources compared to overnight visitors.' Since they don't stay in paid accommodation, they aren't charged through the usual channels. Finally, for day-trippers to be affected, Shulka states that policies targeting them would need to be implemented. This includes things like tourist passes, access fees or visitor registrations. Over on Reddit, there's a huge discussion about the idea of a tourist tax, and as you would expect, the reviews are mixed. More Trending Many Londoners are for a tax, making the point that they have to pay it in other European cities, so why not here? 'Some visitors are surprised when they find out they don't owe tourist tax,' one person adds. 'Yes please. And then ring fence that money to go back into benefiting the local economy. Some new trains for the Bakerloo Line would be nice! Or some new cycle lanes,' another says. A Barcelona resident was also positive about a London tax: 'As a tourist, I wouldn't mind that extra fee.' They continued, saying that their Spanish city has it, and 'regardless of the real use of the money that it generates, it's not a barrier for tourists.' Another tourist agrees: 'I would pay it gladly every time I visit London (and I try to do it a couple of times a year at least). Others were a little more sceptical, saying they would support it if they could guarantee that the money would benefit Londoners. However, some were straight up against it, citing that hotels are 'already overpriced', so 'the answer isn't to drive them further away.' Do you have a story to share? Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@ MORE: Man unleashes smoke grenades and sledgehammer in raid on Mayfair hotel MORE: Heaven nightclub bouncer cleared of rape charge MORE: British flight attendant 'in tears' in court accused of smuggling 46kg of drugs
Yahoo
04-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
London's 'spiralling' housing crisis in numbers
London is Europe's wealthiest city, yet for many living in the capital, having a place to call home feels out of reach, according to the Centre for London (CfL). Earlier this week, the independent think tank hosted the London Housing Summit, highlighting the challenges of - and possible solutions to - the housing crisis, which it says is "spiralling out of control". Experts agree it is a complex issue, but what do figures show us about the scale of the problem? According to data collected by the Combined Homelessness and Information Network (CHAIN), there was an 8% increase in rough sleeping in the capital on the same period in 2024. New rough sleepers account for almost half (47%) of the total number of those sleeping rough, intermittent rough sleepers account for 39% and 16% of the recorded number of rough sleepers were living on the streets. CHAIN's latest annual report for 2024/25 reveals rough sleeping in London has reached an "all time high". The Mayor of London, Sir Sadiq Khan, has committed to ending rough sleeping in London by 2030, and in January 2025 he announced an additional £10m investment in a bid to achieve this goal. The money will go towards expanding the network of its Ending Homelessness Hubs, which provide 24/7 specialist support for people new to rough sleeping and prevention services. Councils have legal duty to house local people who become homeless. Typically, they put people up in hotels or hostels until more permanent arrangements can be made. So, as homelessness has increased in recent years, so therefore has the financial burden on local authorities. The umbrella group representing London's boroughs has said the current spending on temporary accommodation is "unsustainable" and puts many councils at risk of becoming "effectively bankrupt", creating "massive uncertainty" to the future of local services. London Councils says boroughs overspent on the 2024/25 homelessness budget by £330m - with spending in this area increasing by 68% in a single year. According to its recent analysis, more than 183,000 Londoners are currently homeless and living in temporary accommodation such as hostels arranged by their local boroughs. This includes 90,000 children, which equates to more than one per classroom, London Councils says. The human impact of these figures is something the Housing and Mental Health Network aims to highlight to policymakers. Speaking at the London Housing Summit, Dr Sally Zlotowitz, co-chair of the network, said it was a "growing concern" that people in temporary accommodation were "internalising an issue that is a structural crisis". London Councils' executive member for housing, Grace Williams, has labelled this an "emergency" that was "devastating the lives of too many Londoners". The organisation has called on the government to support councils by increasing funding for both short term temporary accommodation needs and longer-term solutions – like boosting grant funding for affordable housing. A government spokesperson said: "We inherited a serious housing crisis, which is why we are taking urgent and decisive action to end homelessness, fix the foundations of local government and drive forward our Plan for Change. "We are providing £1bn for crucial homelessness services so councils can support families faster. This is an increase of £233m from 2024 - 25, and London Boroughs have had a funding uplift by more than £78m. "We are also tackling its root causes by building 1.5 million new homes, boosting social and affordable housing and abolishing section 21 no fault evictions." The private rental sector in London has shrunk, as landlords increasingly decide to sell their properties. According to analysis by Trust for London, 45,000 homes were lost from the sector in this way between April 2021-December 2023, equating to a net reduction of 4.3%. The charity also said the sector was shrinking at a much faster rate the most affordable areas to rent in, which it believed had a "particular impact" on the ability of low-income households to access private rented homes. The National Residential Landlords Association said "uncertainty over proposed tax and regulatory changes is leading many landlords to consider leaving the market". The association added that the demand for private rental homes continued to increase, which was driving up costs for renters as well as reducing choice. London's 2.7 million private tenants saw their rents rise by 11.5% in 2024, with the capital experiencing the largest increases in England, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Polling released this week by Centre for London revealed three in five London renters said rent was unaffordable to them personally. Both the need for homes - and the cost of building them - is greater in London than anywhere else in the country, Centre for London analysis has found. The upfront costs in London are 43 times higher than in the West Midlands and 36 times higher than in Greater Manchester. The think tank's research shows building the number of homes needed in the borough of Wandsworth, which has the highest upfront costs in England, will cost four times more than what it would cost to deliver the entire housing target for West Midlands. This comes as polling by the think-tank revealed 45% of Londoners questioned on what they think the biggest problems within London's housing market are, said it was that first-time buyers cannot afford a home. A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: "The mayor will continue to work in partnership with the government to deliver more genuinely affordable homes through the planning system and new investment so that we can tackle London's housing crisis and build a fairer London for everyone." Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary Angela Rayner has said there is "no time to waste" and that it's "crucial" to "get Britain building". While targets are in place for new homes – delegates at the London Housing Summit this week raised concerns about the existing housing stock in London. Centre for London's polling revealed a third of Londoners have experienced damp and mould and over a quarter were unable to keep their homes warm. Housing campaigner Kwajo Tweneboa uses social media to campaign on issues related to damp and mould and told Eddie Nestor on BBC Radio London, the situation is "horrific", adding "there are times when I ask myself surely it cannot get worse than this?". During the mayoral election campaign of 2024, Sir Sadiq pledged his support for a rollout of high-tech mould sensors, which City Hall said would provide an "early warning system". Industry leaders have warned there is a 'dire shortage' of construction workers. The latest Office for National Statistics figures show that there are over 35,000 job vacancies and employers report that over half of vacancies cannot be filled due to a lack of required skills – the highest rate of any sector. The additional requirement of 160,000 construction workers applies specifically to meeting the need of Labour's housebuilding targets. Ahead of the government's pledge to build 1.5m new homes, the CITB had already estimated there would need to be a quarter of a million new construction workers to meet the country's housing demands. Before the 2025 spring statement, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced £600m worth of investment to train up to 60,000 more skilled construction workers, and education secretary, Bridget Phillipson has committed to 'skills bootcamps' in the construction sector being expanded, with £100m to train, upskill and develop workers. So what's the plan for London? A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said Sir Sadiq Khan had made the capital's housing crisis a "a key priority for his mayoralty". In 2018, City Hall established the Mayor's Construction Academy (MCA), a scheme aimed at helping Londoners gain the skills needed to enter the construction industry. The mayor's office said it hoped the MCA would help address the need for more skilled construction workers in London. Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X, and Instagram. Send your story ideas to House building costs highest in London - report UK 'doesn't have enough builders' for Labour's 1.5m homes Mayor of London Centre for London London Councils
BBC News
03-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
London housing: Unlawful renting of short-term lets on the rise
The government has been urged to take action after research found more than half of London's short-term holiday let properties are being rented out unlawfully.A report by Central London Forward, a partnership of inner city boroughs, revealed more than 50% of the 117,000 short-term lets listed across the capital in 2024 were booked for more than 90 days a year, in breach of City Council leader Adam Hug said: "This concentration has a profound effect on our local communities."A government spokesman said: "We will introduce a short-term let registration scheme to reap the benefits of a thriving tourist economy while protecting the spirit of our communities." 'Waste and noise complaints' Landlords cannot legally rent out their homes in the capital for more than 90 nights a year under are only allowed to let their homes out for more than 90 nights a year, on short-term lets, if they receive planning permission from the at the Centre for London think tank's annual housing summit on Wednesday, Mr Hug said his borough was "at the epicentre of the problem", with short-term lets concentrated in "the West End, Bayswater, Lancaster Gate and parts of Pimlico".He added: "It can hollow out long-term residents, making neighbours subject to significant noise disruption, fly-tipped waste linked to short-term let properties."But it also impacts the council services which have to pick up the waste, respond to the noise complaints and deal with pressure in the local housing market, as we see private rents rise year on year."Central London Forward's report, seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), found the number of short-term lets in London has risen over the last decade. In 2015, there were fewer than 30,000 short-term lets in London, which more than doubled throughout 2016 to 60,000, peaking at over 100,000 in numbers of short-term lets then "fell dramatically" in 2020 at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, before making a "steady recovery," the report added. 'Completely inadequate' The report calls on ministers to force short-term let rental websites "to share individualised, unit-level data with local authorities and the government" and to introduce a mandatory national registration scheme for the sector."At the moment, it isn't possible for local authorities to effectively, at scale, enforce the existing regulations," said Mr added that holiday let websites will often "mask where the properties are, putting it on a street a couple of roads away, and not being clear what building it's in".The Labour councillor added: "It means that hard-pressed planning enforcement teams are really struggling to build the evidence base to get the court to enforce the 90-day rule."In order to better regulate the market, and to empower local authorities, we really do need national government to step up."The report was endorsed by Tom Copley, Sir Sadiq Khan's deputy mayor for housing, who said with 65,000 homeless households in London living in temporary accommodation, "we need to bring those properties back into use as long-term rented properties, or long-term properties for people to buy and live in as owner-occupiers". A government spokesman told the LDRS the short-term let sector has seen rapid growth in recent years. They said: "This can bring economic benefits to the economy and tourism industry, but we know that having excessive concentrations of short-term lets in an area can drive up housing costs and harm local communities."That's why we have abolished the furnished holiday lets tax regime so that landlords are no longer incentivised by the tax system to rent homes as holiday lets. "We continue to consider further action."
BBC News
02-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
House building costs highest in London - Centre for London finds
The cost of building homes in London is more than in other parts of England, think tank analysis has Centre for London reported the upfront cost of constructing 88,000 new homes a year, the government's annual target for the capital, is roughly 43 times higher than the equivalent target in the West research was shared at the centre's 2025 housing summit on Wednesday, where Sem Moema, chair of the London Assembly housing committee, said: "If we don't fix the housing crisis, the character of the city will be extinguished."A Mayor of London spokesperson said: "The mayor will continue to work in partnership with the government to deliver more genuinely affordable homes." 'Closing schools' Separate polling by the think tank, which is politically independent, found 60% of Londoners surveyed had considered moving out of the capital due to housing costs rising over the past 12 months, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) Moema, a Labour member representing Hackney, Islington and Waltham Forest at City Hall, said: "I see in my own constituency the hollowing out that occurs and continues to occur, when the failure to fix the housing crisis for a decade and a half changes the character of our city, and not for the better."In all three boroughs, we're being forced to consider closing schools, because there are basically no children left in northeast London. "Families can no longer afford to own or even rent properties in my boroughs."Centre for London's research found the crisis is being exacerbated by the upfront cost to developers being at least £2.2bn, if they built enough homes to hit the government's target in the estimate was produced by combining the costs associated with the Building Safety Levy, Section 106 agreements, the Community Infrastructure Levy and planning fees for local councils, according to the analysis. The figure in the West Midlands metropolitan county – which includes Birmingham – was only £50.6m, and only slightly higher in Greater Manchester at £61.3m. In the London borough of Wandsworth alone, which had the highest cost of any London council area, according to the LDRS, the estimate was £253.9m. 'Invest in capital' Ms Moema said: "We have a generation who will never get on to the property ladder independently."We need to confront this reality. As with climate change, the costs of not doing anything will be greater than the costs of further investment."A spokesperson for the mayor said: "The mayor is working hard to turn things around, building on a strong track record of delivering tens of thousands of genuinely affordable homes across the capital and more new council homes than any time since the 1970s." 'Ambitious solutions' Commenting on the Labour government's approach to tackling the housing crisis, Centre for London CEO Antonia Jennings said: "We've seen increased investment in the Affordable Homes Programme, planning reform which allow building on low-quality sections of the green belt and the new Renters Reform Bill. "But, these are only the very first steps."She added: "We urgently need ambitious solutions that respond to the scale of the challenges facing the capital. "The government must get behind London's leaders and invest in the capital to finally turn the corner on the housing crisis." The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has said meeting the housing challenge in London is a "crucial part" of its national mission to build 1.5m homes and kickstart economic government added that it had made "£200m available through the Brownfield Infrastructure and Land fund to strategic sites across the capital".Another £81m from the Housing Infrastructure Fund is also being given to Transport for London (TfL) to make improvements to Surrey Quays Station and "unlock more than 8,000 new homes in Southwark and Lewisham".
Evening Standard
30-04-2025
- Business
- Evening Standard
Staggering cost of meeting London's housing target revealed in new research
In its new research, the Centre for London found that the crisis is being exacerbated by the fact that the upfront cost to developers, if they built enough homes to hit the Government's target in the capital, would be at least £2.2bn. The estimate was produced by combining the costs associated with the Building Safety Levy, Section 106 agreements, the Community Infrastructure Levy and planning fees for local councils.
