Tourists should boycott holiday homes in Cornwall unless the landlords can show they do not make housing less affordable, a former MP has said.
Andrew George, the former Liberal Democrat MP for St Ives, urged people who rent holiday homes to challenge landlords over the impact of short-term lets after 3,000 second homes were registered in the South West during the pandemic.
George, now chief executive of the Cornwall Community Land Trust, which builds affordable housing, said: “They should ask before they come: ‘Can you assure me this accommodation is not having a negative impact on housing need?’”
He said renters could refuse to return if the needs of local people were “being overlooked”.
A group of Cornish tourism bodies began consulting this month on a registration system for holiday homes to ease pressure on the property market. Under the proposal, all accommodation providers would be required to sign up to the registration scheme.
The proposal follows a plan, outlined in the Queen’s Speech, allowing council tax to be doubled on properties that have been neither used nor let for at least 70 days a year.
