It appears that the jobsworths have been able to limit Airbnb in London. This is not sensible:

 Starting next year, the online service will automatically prevent hosts in London from letting their homes for more than 90 nights a year, unless they have the required “change-of use” planning permission from their local authority.

The reason for this is simply that Britian has too many people who enjoy saying "you'venotgottherightformforthisandIwon'tgiveyoupermissionanyway". Presumably for no other reason than that some people like saying that.

The effect of this is a $400 million loss in wealth to us Brits:

Airbnb will miss out on more than $400m worth of bookings in London this year as it enforces its new 90-night limit for hosts there, according to data that underpins the growing cost of regulatory compliance for the high-profile Silicon Valley start-up.

You might not think that renting out spare rooms, even for 91 days a year, is a method of creating wealth. But you would be wrong to think that way.

The definition of wealth creation is when we move something, some asset, from a lower value use to a higher value one. We've not abstracted anything more from the environment, not had to break into a sweat, not actually worked - and yet there it is, more value that can be enjoyed by human beings.

We're richer by the box room being rented out here, yea even unto 364 days a year. And we miss out on those riches, are poorer than we need be, by the bureaucrats demanding those forms and pencil filling.

But then that's rather the basis of the entire property planning business in the UK, isn't it? Don't allow anyone to build where people would actually like to use a building and most certainly don't allow people to add value by coming up with new things to do with a building.

And we are indeed all the poorer for it. As before, time to abolish the Town and Country Planning Act and all successors.