Multiple councils have hit out at housing platforms Airbnb and Booking.com for failing to crack down on illegal social housing sublets, The Guardian reports.
Social tenants are moving out of properties and subletting them, at a time when there’s major shortages of council or housing association homes.
In one case, a tenant advertised his housing association property for £4,000 week, having never lived in the home, according to campaign group the Tenancy Fraud Forum.
Katrina Robinson, its chair and a housing association lawyer, said: “I recently reported an illegal sublet to Airbnb and explained it was a criminal offence, but they refused to remove the listing and told me to talk to the host.
“Airbnb puts profit before conscience.”
In another, The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea was forced to take court action against Airbnb after that platform refused to remove illegal listings, spending around £20,000 in the process.
The council said Airbnb failed to share…
