A concerted effort is to be made by Keswick Town Council to tackle the problem of nuisance behaviour emanating from unmanaged holiday lets.
The number of holiday properties in the town has grown considerably in the past three years and there has been a trend for B&Bs to change to large holiday lets, with owners delegating all management to agencies.
The town council has received complaints from local residents about issues including noise nuisance, anti-social behaviour, party houses, poor maintenance and issues with litter.
Last week’s meeting of the town council was to consider a proposal by Cllr Louise Dunn to set up a simple reporting mechanism to tackle the problem.
The meeting was due to hear that one of the issues facing the town council is that there is a lack of data being collected to quantify the size, scale and seriousness of the problem. A report to councillors says that locals do not bother to report issues as it has not made a difference in the past.
Cllr Dunn believes that gathering this data will help inform the agencies – MP, Cumberland Council, Lake District National Park Authority and police – that could help and also justify the release of resources to address the issue.
The reporting system would:
- Hold owners and lettings agencies accountable for the proactive management of nuisance to the local community;
- Encourage neighbours and the local community to log problems by providing a central reporting system which would help them seek swift resolution of incidents;
- Gather and share the data to quantify the problem, spot trends and identify what works.
Residents will first be encouraged to pursue their complaint with the letting agency or owner to seek resolution.
But if that does not work they will be asked to fill out a form detailing the problem that will be placed on the town council website.
The town clerk, who will act as the managing agent, will follow up with residents on how their concerns are being dealt with and review the forms with the appropriate agencies.
This may involve the establishment of a multi-agency working group depending on what gets reported and how often.
The clerk will publish a list of the issues encountered with holiday let properties via council meetings and The Keswick Reminder. Positive actions taken by letting agencies will be included, as will lack of action or resolution.
A report to councillors said: “The council believes that the town must set an expectation that owners and letting agencies are fully accountable for the proactive management of nuisance to the local community.
“These issues can be eliminated with careful management.”
In 2022 the town council made a resolution that it will seek practical steps to address noise and anti-social behaviour due to large holiday lets with no on-site owner.
A voluntary code and a good neighbours scheme was proposed that would be co-ordinated and funded by the letting agencies but there was no meaningful interest among the agencies to participate.
