Landlords are creating multiple listings for properties on Airbnb, helping them avoid limits on short-term lets, BBC research suggests.

In the capital, homes can be let – often to tourists – for up to 90 nights a year without planning permission, a rule meant to protect London’s housing supply.

But many landlords are creating multiple listings for the same property, switching to a new one once the limit is reached in order to unlawfully keep renting the property for short-term lets all year.

One local council said it was creating a “mockery” of the law but Airbnb said it acted on reports from local authorities when hosts evaded rules.

London – one of Airbnb’s largest markets in the world – is the only area in the UK which restricts lets to tourists for a maximum of 90 days.

The policy, external is designed to enable people to earn a bit of extra money from their homes when not in use, while protecting rental housing supply for people like Ciaron Tobin.

The 22-year-old is preparing to move to London to begin a law degree while working part-time, but has been struggling to find an affordable home near his workplace to share with friends.

“Properties are simply too expensive for what I can earn in London, especially given where I need to commute,” he said.

“Prices are now outside of what I can afford. With Airbnb, supply is decreasing and the prices are rising.”

Airbnb disputes its impact on rental prices, and many landlords have criticised the 90-day legislation, saying it imposes too many controls.

To get a snapshot of the current situation, BBC Verify developed photo-matching software which analysed images from 37,000 adverts for “entire” homes on Airbnb in London on a single day.

The investigation found about 1,300 listings had reused identical images – such as the same furniture, rooms and decor – from other supposedly unique listings.

The software flagged a larger number – about 1,700 – but after manually reviewing a sample we removed a quarter that were likely to be legitimately reusing photos, such as stock images of London, or multiple flats in one building.

The findings suggest hosts are widely using a known method for dodging the 90-day rule, allowing them to extend short-term rentals beyond what the law permits by creating duplicate listings which have not been picked up by Airbnb.

A previous BBC investigation found some property firms were touting tactics such as changing addresses or re-photographing the same house.

Airbnb said it used software featuring an inbuilt “counter” to stop anyone from renting out short-term lets for longer than 90 days, and that duplicate listings of the same property to evade enforcement were in breach of its terms.

The counter begins from the moment a property is listed.

“Duplicate listings make it much harder for our teams to track down those who are breaking the rules, making such misery for local residents and taking homes out of the housing market,” said Adam Hug, leader at Labour-controlled Westminster City Council.

He said the situation “made a mockery” of London’s short-stay restrictions.

The council is currently investigating about 2,700 properties for alleged breaches of the 90-day limit.

The main way councils tackle landlords who break the rules is by issuing an enforcement notice. Ignoring one is a criminal offence and can lead to prosecution and an unlimited fine.

A spokesperson for the Greater London Authority said the BBC’s findings revealed how “illegal short-term lets pile pressure on supply at a time when affordable housing is desperately needed”.

The BBC shared its methods and findings with Airbnb and offered an on-camera interview for the company to respond which was declined.

Airbnb said it was “disappointed” the BBC had not shared its evidence in raw data form so it “could look into the claimed findings”.

It said it was the only platform that automatically capped listings in Greater London at 90 nights unless hosts had permission to exceed the limit and that it acted on reports from local authorities if rules were evaded.

It argued that short-term lets made up only a tiny fraction of London’s housing stock, had little impact on overall affordability, and emphasised its contribution to tourism, claiming it supported 16,800 jobs and added £1.5bn to the capital’s economy in 2023.

There are several other short-term letting platforms, but Airbnb is by far the largest.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport said it was developing a registration scheme for short-term lets in England.

The Short Term Accommodation Association said it wanted “clear fair, rules”, adding that a registration scheme would “give the sector the tools to work with councils to deal quickly with bad practice such as duplicate listings”.

Airbnb told the BBC it was working with the government on implementing the scheme.

Plans for a major reform of the house-buying system, which aim to cut costs, reduce delays and halve failed sales, have been unveiled by the government.

Under the new proposals, sellers and estate agents will be legally required to provide key information about a property up front, and binding contracts introduced to stop either party walking away late in the deal.

The government estimates the overhaul could save first-time buyers an average of £710 and cut up to four weeks off the time it takes to complete a typical property deal.

“Buying a home should be a dream, not a nightmare. Our reforms will fix the broken system,” said Housing Secretary Steve Reed.

It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of families and first-time buyers could benefit from the reforms.

Those in the middle of a chain could also potentially gain a net saving of £400 as a result of the increased costs from selling being outweighed by lower buying expenses.

The consultation draws on other jurisdictions, including the Scottish system where there is more upfront information and earlier binding contracts.

This will include being up front about the condition of the home, any leasehold costs, and details of property chains.

The government says this transparency will reduce the risk of deals collapsing late in the process and improve confidence among buyers, particularly those purchasing a home for the first time.

The planned introduction of binding contracts is intended to halve the number of failed transactions, which currently cost the UK economy an estimated £1.5bn a year.

The Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Housing, Miatta Fahnbulleh, told BBC Breakfast the plans to get sellers to arrange the house survey means buyers would get all the information “upfront”.

“You know what you’re getting, you don’t have this thing that every time, for example, there is a new buyer because the transaction failed and you need to do another survey,” she said.

“In Scotland, where they do this, you see that it drives down the number of failed transactions.”

The reforms also aim to boost professional standards across the housing sector.

A new mandatory Code of Practice for estate agents and conveyancers is being proposed, along with the introduction of side-by-side performance data to help buyers choose trusted professionals based on expertise and track record.

The government said a full roadmap for the changes would be published in the new year, forming part of its broader housing strategy, which includes a pledge to build 1.5 million new homes.

Conservative shadow housing minister Paul Holmes said: “Whilst we welcome steps to digitise and speed up the process, this risks reinventing the last Labour government’s failed Home Information Packs – which reduced the number of homes put on sale, and duplicated costs across buyers and sellers.”

Housing expert Kirstie Allsopp, the presenter of Channel 4’s Location, Location, Location, told the BBC’s Today programme she was “really glad the government has grasped this nettle”.

She said it was important to focus on both the buying and selling sides, “because things fall through because buyers walk away just as much as sellers walk away, and I think that was a worrying element”.

The boss of property website Rightmove, Johan Svanstrom, welcomed the plans to modernise the system.

“The home-moving process involves many fragmented parts, and there’s simply too much uncertainty and costs along the way. Speed, connected data and stakeholder simplicity should be key goals.”

The announcement comes as the Conservatives are set to detail changes to its tax policy for first home buyers at the party’s conference in Manchester.

The party will lay out plans to “reward work” by giving young people a £5,000 tax rebate towards their first home when they get their first full time job.

Shadow chancellor Mel Stride will announce proposals for a “first-job bonus” that would divert National Insurance payments into a long-term savings account.

The party say it will be funded by cuts to public spending worth £47bn over five years in areas such as welfare, the civil service and the foreign aid budget.