Well, that didn’t take very long, did it? Not even a year has passed since the SNP’s rather unpopular short-term lets licensing scheme came into force and already the regulations are softening.
The scheme was implemented last October to improve safety standards in short-term let accommodation and clamp down on the antisocial ruckus sometimes caused by party-loving guests. Hosts must pay for a licence or face a £2,500 fine. Updates to the legislation last week mean that landlords will now be able to apply for an annual six-week exemption from the license, and anyone purchasing an already licensed property won’t have to reapply for one. But it’s still a messy tangle of red tape that doesn’t appear to be doing anyone any favours.
As someone who occasionally uses holiday rental platforms such as Airbnb, I welcome any attempt to improve guest safety. I once abstained from drinking at a wedding so I could drive home rather than stay in the room I’d rented from a woman whose carefree approach to personal hygiene had me retching in the hallway of her B&B. I doubt she’d changed her underwear since 1996, let alone the smoke alarm batteries. Legislation such as this should, in theory, weed out these poor operators or force them to pull up their yellowing socks. Great.
However, it’s also driving out decent accommodation options because thousands of licensing applications are in limbo. Councils are too poorly resourced to process them efficiently. In May Edinburgh city council’s planning department had a backlog of more than 1,600 short-term let applications.
According to Airbnb, which obviously has skin in the game, the shortage of holiday lets in the capital has led to a surge in hotel prices and a 90 per cent reduction in the number of places to stay during the Edinburgh Festival (though this may change following amendments to the regulations). Welcome news to the city-dwellers who dread August each year — but not to the tourists and performers who have been priced out, or the businesses who rely on their custom.
Advertisement
Are tourists more important than residents? No. But I’d be interested to know how many locals are feeling a measurable benefit from these regulations. Rents and property prices continue to rise throughout Scotland. It was hoped the crackdown on short-term lets would result in more properties being released to market, and that may happen over time, but even if every short-term let owner sold up tomorrow it would barely make a dent in calming our housing crisis. The lack of houses being built lies at the heart of the problem. Rent controls arguably aren’t helping either.
Striking a balance between supporting the needs of locals alongside the visitor economy is not easy. Only time will tell whether this legislation update allows for a more harmonious relationship to flourish between the two. Up until now it’s not really been working for anyone.
