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Enforcement – leveling the playing-field:
The Bed & Breakfast Association has long been emphasizing to the Government and to UK regulators that it is of limited use changing legislation or regulations if they are not actually enforced.
In many cases, especially the lack of a level playing-field between‘ traditional’ businesses like B & Bs on the one hand, and‘ hosts’ on peer-to-peer platforms such as Airbnb on the other, it is not the regulations( which clearly apply to both business models) that are the problem, but the lack of enforcement of those regulations on the new business models, while they still continue to be enforced on B & Bs and guest houses.
So the B & B Association welcomes( as far as it goes) the Action Plan’ s somewhat vague statement on this, which reads: The Government has been carrying out a review of Local Authority Regulation and Enforcement, during which evidence was gathered from businesses and local authorities in relation to the fair and consistent enforcement of regulation across business, including tourism businesses.
The Review’ s objective is to find ways of cutting red tape and reducing bureaucratic barriers to growth and productivity. We would expect tourism businesses to be among those that will benefit from improvements made in light of the review.
The Association will be devoting its efforts to keeping the Government to this promise. We want to see the playing-field between B & Bs and our new competitors fair and level, so we can compete on equal terms.
Whether this is achieved by deregulating for the smallest accommodation owners, or by enforcing the rules fairly and consistently regardless of business model, is less important than the key principle of fair competition on a level playing field.
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