Regulate holiday home ‘wild west’

NORTHERN Ireland’s housing minster has promised Stormont will seek to regulate the ‘wild west’ of Airbnbs and second homes.
And, Gordon Lyons told elected members of Causeway Coast and Glens Council, using rates hikes to tackle the issue has not been ruled out.
North Coast politicians fear competition for houses from second home buyers was not only pricing local first time buyers out of the market, but the alternative long term rental market was similarly being squeezed as landlords cash in on soaring values or turn their properties into more lucrative Airbnbs.
It was an issue Minster Lyons was asked to address when he appeared before the council chamber for a Q&Q session on the housing crisis last Tuesday.

* Full story inside this week's newspaper.