A court order has cleared the way for Kensington and Chelsea Council and Airbnb to work together to tackle social housing tenancy fraud.

The court order allows Airbnb Payments UK to legally share payment data with Kensington and Chelsea Council to help the local authority crack down on illegal short-term lets.

The data sharing, which will take place under a court order due to GDPR requirements, will provide the council with payment evidence of social housing properties identified as being potentially listed as holiday and short-term lets.

Cllr Kim-Taylor Smith, lead member for Housing, said: ‘There is a huge demand for social housing in our borough and it’s simply not fair that people in genuine need are being denied a place to call home because others are illegally subletting their council properties to make money.

‘Tenancy fraud is not a victimless crime. It costs the public purse an average of £42,000 a year for each home and this welcome collaboration with Airbnb will help us to clamp down on it in our borough.’

Theo Lomas, head of Government Relations for Northern Europe at Airbnb, said: ‘Hosting in subsidised or social housing in the UK is illegal and has no place on Airbnb and we want to work with councils to remove social housing.

‘However, the current situation is complex and costly, and requires a court order to avoid breaking GDPR rules. This is yet another example of the need for the UK to update its rules and introduce a single registration system, so authorities have the information they need to tackle bad actors and return housing to those in need.’