Making law is the ultimate purpose of Parliament. This Friday, I have my own Bill, a Private Members’ Bill, on licensing Short Term Holiday Lets (‘airbnbs’).

To get to this point, I applied to the Private Members’ Bill ballot, but only 20 names were drawn; not mine.

I therefore opted for a Presentation Bill, which meant competing for slots by sending an email bang on 10am on a Thursday morning last spring.

Sending it a second early would have meant being disqualified, but with British Summer Time on my side I got one of the top slots.

I have been building support for my bill all year. This has included spending two days per week for five months on the Levelling Up Bill Committee, speaking in debates, asking questions and meeting with Ministers and the Secretary of State. Everyone knows I want to ensure that York’s family streets are returned to residents.

There are now a group of us, wanting to protect rural, coastal and urban communities.

We are concerned about villages hollowed out by holiday let investors and second home-owners, and urban streets that are now party streets.

Our common bond, though, is that far too many local people have nowhere to live.

In York, over 2,000 properties have now been snatched up by investors, denying first time buyers any chance to get on the housing ladder.

Worse, those living in the private rented sector are being turfed out of their homes to make way for stag and hen groups to party away in York’s once quiet streets. The landlords sit back and watch their profits rise, some raking in over £2,000 a weekend.

Whether you are unable to rent or buy because property costs are rising as demand exceeds supply, have a son or daughter priced out of the city, or live next-door to an ‘airbnb’ party house, many people in York are being impacted by this unlicensed, unregulated trade

Businesses can’t recruit staff and our NHS and care sectors are suffering as there is nowhere for staff to live.

This exploitation of housing for personal gain is extracting homes from those who desperately need them.

As things stand, unlike B&Bs or hotels, Short Term Holiday Lets are unregulated.

They don’t need safety certificates or energy efficiency measures, and owners don’t pay council tax as they benefit from Small Business Rate relief. No standards, no contribution, just profit.

Everyone searching for a home will also know this is one reason why property prices in York are so ridiculously high.

On the darker side, we hear anecdotally that in some places these properties harbour criminal activities, from modern slavery to county lines. The lack of accountability is costly.

I, like so many other MPs that care about homes for their constituents, want to see these properties licensed, fully regulated and making a significant contribution to the community through local taxation.

My Bill goes one step further, adopting the Scottish licensing model, enabling local authorities to set up control zones to limit the expansion of holiday lets where housing is under pressure.

It would also give councils new powers to close down Short Term Lets that are causing a repeated nuisance to local residents, and returning these homes to families.

Housing campaign groups from the Campaign to Rural England to Generation Rent and Action for Empty Homes are getting behind my Bill, seeing it as a solution to many of the biggest concerns of their members.

Due to the archaic systems in Westminster, I am yet to know if I will get a full Second Reading. Being fourth on the day, three other bills will have to be agreed first. I have lobbied hard to make the case as to why it should get a full hearing, so on Friday I will be prepared to make a speech whether for ten minutes or two hours!

No matter what happens, all these efforts have placed the issue firmly on the Government’s desk. Something must be done.

Government have recognised the need, as over 350,000 properties across the UK are now used for holiday groups not residents. They have said that they will act. They carried out a consultation over the summer, in which I took part alongside 4,000 others.

Early signs are that they will now legislate – but not with a licensing scheme and a change of use to lock in ‘airbnbs’ in every neighbourhood.

Instead, they look due to appease industry lobbyists with a vastly watered-down registration scheme. This will tell us where these places are but will do very little else. This horse has long bolted and licensing with control zones is the only way forward.

Once again Government is out of touch in the midst of a housing crisis. It will not be the solution.

I will continue to fight for you, our communities and our city. The system is broken. My Bill will help fix it.

  • Rachael Maskell is the Labour MP for York Central