Airbnb is banning London hosts from renting out their homes for more than 90 days a year

Airbnb has announced a tweak in its room-listing app which will prevent London’s flats and houses being rented out for more than 90 days in any 12-month period.

The move brings the company’s policy in line with existing British law, which bans stays exceeding three months without specific planning permission from a local council.

In a statement on the Airbnb website, a spokesperson said, ‘This will make it easier for hosts in London to act in the best interests of everyone in the city’.

The plan is the result of a six-month project, incorporating research from The Institute of Public Policy Research, which found that ‘the impact of home sharing on London’s housing supply is currently negligible’.

But Airbnb has courted controversy in the past, with critics blaming the room-sharing app for rising rents and a lack of housing stock as buyers cash in on properties’ rental potential.

Even so, savvy Londoners are leaping at the chance to let out spare rooms or even whole houses, and research conducted by Airbnb showed that the average London host rakes in £3,500 renting a room for 50 nights a year. Alright for some, eh?

Admit it, if you didn’t have to worry about your flatmates’ left-over pizza boxes and total disregard for bathroom hygiene, you’d be sticking your 'cosy' flat straight on Airbnb.

In other news, Letting agent fees are being banned

And London is the most expensive city for renters in the UK (but rent costs are finally slowing down)