Council leaders have called on the Government to think ‘more radically,’ on proposals to regulate short-term holiday lets.
The District Councils' Network says current proposals fail to deliver what is needed to tackle housing shortages.
Government departments have suggested a registration scheme for short-term lets and a plan to control the number of rental properties through the planning system.
But councils with popular tourist destinations that are facing severe shortages of affordable have urged ministers to go further.
According to figures from the Office for National Statistics one in 10 homes in some tourist hotspots are holiday lets.
Responses to a consultation by the DCN say unregulated expansion of short-term lets has gone too far and call for 'comprehensive and urgent action' to create a system that can boost tourism without the economic benefits being outweighed by the loss of housing.
The network has backed the proposal for a registration scheme but says anything less than a mandatory national system administered by local authorities would ‘render it toothless and open to manipulation’.
It has also called for stronger enforcement powers such as fines for owners who breach rules, short-term lets to be brought inside the business rates regime and for councils to be given powers to control lets on specific streets.
