Estate agents have reported that short-let properties rented via platforms like Airbnb are a “significant problem” in the housing market, broadcaster and member of the Lords Joan Bakewell has claimed.

She made the comments during a two-hour of grilling of representatives from the short-lets sector by a Lords committee looking into the housing crisis, during which Bakewell revealed had completed her own research into the issue with a clutch of agencies.

Industry representatives included Merilee Karr from the UK Short Stay Accommodation Association, Airbnb’s North European boss Amanda Cupples and Booking.com’s PR boss Fiona MacConnacher.

The trio denied that Baroness Bakewell’s observations were accurate and all three made a strong defence of the short-stay sector, claiming that without accurate and timely ‘big data’, claims that Airbnb is narrowing housing supply in rural and urban tourist hotspots were ‘likely to be inaccurate’.