Residents of a Dorset village are furious after a property developer exploited a loophole to get around a strict second-home ban and turned a house into an Airbnb.

Town planners for the picturesque coastal village of Langton Matravers wanted a new estate to be primary residences only, after the area became one of Britain’s worst for unaffordable houses.

Developers Old Malthouse Purbeck Ltd were allowed to build the 19 new houses on the basis that none would be sold to owners who used them as second homes.

But a clause excluded holiday lets from the ban, creating a loophole the developers could exploit.

One of the new houses is now being sold in this manner, meaning the new owners could rent it out to holidaying families rather than making it their home.

Villagers were in disbelief that Dorset Council had allowed this, and accused the local authority of ‘rolling over’ to the developers.

Fearing this would set a precedent, Peter Golob, vice chairman of the parish council, warned: ‘What Dorset Council have done is open the flood gates.’

Langton Matravers is on the desirable Isle of Purbeck, where property prices have risen in the past 20 years to an average of £447,000. 

Residents of Langton Matravers in Dorset are furious after a loophole allowed developers to get around a second home ban

A new 19-house estate was supposed to be all primary residences, but there was an exception for holiday lets

Peter Golob, vice chairman of the parish council, feared the ‘floodgates’ would now be open to more holiday lets

This has been blamed on the high number of second homeowners buying up property and pushing local families out of the area. 

Some spots are said to have turned into ‘ghost villages’ where many properties lie empty and pubs, post offices and village stores have closed.

A 2025 housing survey showed there were 380 households in Langton Matravers with 72 registered as second homes and 18 as holiday homes – a quarter of the housing stock. 

So it was welcome news when a strict primary residence condition was attached to the new cluster of 19 houses.

But Old Malthouse Purbeck Ltd had other ideas and made the most of the holiday let exemption.

They said giving buyers the option of either living in the homes full time or letting them out, for example as an Airbnb, would make them more appealing.

After it succeeded, Mr  Golob, said: ‘There’s no demonstrable need for commercial holiday lets in Langton Matravers – 25 per cent of the residences within the parish are already second homes or holiday lets.

‘They were given this information and when asked what number is too much, they’ve said ‘we don’t know’. They haven’t set a threshold.

‘What Dorset Council have done is open the flood gates.

A new estate of 19 houses in the village was originally approved under the condition all would be people’s primary homes

One of the newbuilds has received permission to be sold as a holiday let

‘There will be a deluge of applications. This was a test case.

‘If I was a developer in Dorset being forced to build for primary residence I would now immediately file a fresh planning application.

‘Local people feel we won the argument but Dorset Council didn’t want to defend it, they have decided to roll over. Everybody is furious.’

The 19 new houses consist of three cottages, seven apartments and nine detached homes with prices ranging from £350,000 to £815,000.

In February, another new estate in the village for 15 homes was granted planning permission, again with the primary residence condition in place.

But locals fear the developers will now apply to allow them to be used as holiday lets as well.

Ben Wilson, a Dorset councillor for South East Purbeck, said: ‘Purbeck has a very real housing crisis. The price of a standard property is unaffordable for the vast majority of local residents.

‘Young people are leaving, local services are struggling, and the villages are increasingly occupied by AirBnbs and second homes.

Second homes in Langton Matravers, Dorset, have in the past been targeted with graffiti

Stones were painted with words such as ‘Greed’, reflecting the frustrations at increasingly unaffordable housing

‘The development is not uncontroversial and it brings with it years of disruption for local residents.

‘But for the local community these houses are being built on a promise of sustaining the village and for any of these properties to be anything other than primary residences is to break that promise.

‘A holiday let is a seasonally vacant property with no community benefits.

‘I’m very uncomfortable with the decision as it was made. When you’re building new houses in the Dorset National Landscape, a protected habitat, you need to be able to say it’s for a good reason.

‘As soon as you start saying these properties can be commercially let you are saying they can be built with profit in mind.

‘Dorset Council should have been saying in the interests of the residents of Purbeck, this is not right.

‘There’s a loophole and these developers have sought to exploit that. I highly expect they will come in with further applications. They were just testing the position.

‘We could end up with a development that would be as many holiday lets as people living there.

Langton Matravers is a short drive from the coastline, which boasts beautiful spots such as Chapman’s Pool (pictured)

‘People are working hard to keep the village alive and this undermines that.’

Ken Parke, planning consultant for Old Malthouse Purbeck Ltd, told the planning committee: ‘The housing market is slow and properties are not selling; this is due to economic issues outside of the applicant’s control.’

Planning officer Emma Macdonald said because the application is only for one property, the loss of a permanent home is ‘very limited’ and it could still be occupied as a principal residence ‘should the market demand it’.

She said: ‘Any other house in Dorset can be let out by Airbnb or another holiday provider automatically.

‘Here we are not diverting from the policy about second homes, but we are allowing the flexibility that would be available to any other house owner to use it as a short-term holiday let.’

Cllr Andy Skeats said: ‘This is a bit of a line in the sand decision. The principle of what we are doing is a dangerous principle.

‘That’s a fundamental change on the rules of that property, Dorset will get hit with a big cricket bat by this if we just let that go.’

Despite councillors voicing concerns, they voted to approve the application to lift the primary residence condition.

Purbeck has five of the top ten parishes for second home ownership in Dorset.

In the next village over from Langton, Worth Matravers, the figures are worse with only 40 per cent of properties occupied by local residents.

It has led in the past to graffiti being scrawled over public buildings and walls calling for ‘No More 2nd Homes’.