With Instagram-worthy interiors, flats and houses that were once let through platforms such as AirBnb and booking.com are now returning to the market as long-term lets, according to Winkworth.

Dominic Agace, the firm’s Chief Executive, said that many of the 60 Winkworth offices across the capital have reported an upturn in landlords looking for longer lettings for properties which had once been occupied by tourists and corporate tenants.

Agace said:

“These attractive flats and houses in good locations would have been filled with AirBnB and other short stay tenants.

“They are now standing empty as a result of the ban on international travel and tourism.

“We are seeing landlords, some of whom were customers before the short lets boom, coming to us for expert advice to find long-term tenants.”

Tom Street, regional lettings manager for Winkworth estate agents in Shoreditch, Islington and Highbury, said the first signs of the trend for short-term lets to become long lettings began in March, just before the lockdown.

“We are working with landlords who had been using AirBnB or letting to corporate tenants.

“The scale of short-lets across Shoreditch, Islington and Highbury was huge and demand for them has just dropped off a cliff.

“We are currently handling a block of multiple flats in the Brick Lane area, which is very popular with tourists and these were let on AirBnB.

“They are all empty and we will be offering them for long lets.

“We have another landlord in Islington with five properties, which were formerly short lets and will be available for longer lettings.

“Around 25 per cent of our lettings are former short lets.”

“We are offering video or facetime tours on empty properties for tenants and virtual valuations for landlords, in line with Government guidelines.

“However, we are expecting to see significant pent-up demand released once we are able to conduct proper viewings again.”

Max Chaudry, lettings director, of Winkworth Knightsbridge, Chelsea and Belgravia, has seen a return of landlords seeking long-term lets.

The offices handle lettings ranging from an average of £300 a week to £25,000 a week in London’s smartest districts.

Chaudry said:

“In this area, there are entire blocks owned by landlords who were offering short-let serviced apartments.

“We have also had international tenants at university or school in England, who returned to their home countries at the end of the Spring term and they are not coming back.”

Charles Peerless, director of Winkworth’s West End offices, added:

“The short term lettings and, most significantly, the daily and weekly rentals, have been decimated.

“I don’t see this changing until international travel and tourism returns.”