I find the point just made by the noble Lord interesting. He is quite right that there are people living in squalor but, unfortunately, we have also taken away the right of regulation. Local authorities can no longer check now to see who is living in a property, how long they have been there and whether they are just flying in and out. The local authorities were willing to agree to 24-hour licences, so that people coming in for quick holiday
use could be accommodated because that is modern travel: people want to do something in 24 hours. But when I spoke on this issue they made it clear to me that, unless you know how many people are living there and for how long, there is no way to have it within the limited amount of time in the year. You cannot even have any idea what that limited amount of time would be. That is one of the problems.
We have seen articles in the press recently saying, “Watch out for all those piles of rubbish outside some property—it shows that it is occupied by many more people than there is the actual facility for. If you see triple-decker beds going in, they are let out at £70 a night to people”. All that definitely has to be caught up with but I find some of the other points in this amendment very strange. I do not think that they are all appropriate. If we interfere too much in the private letting sector—oh! Exactly which amendment are we speaking to now? Is it Amendment 32?