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Category: Regulations

Short-Term Let Licensing Extends to Non-Licenced Guest Houses

Posted on by Fiona Campbell

Guest Houses and B&Bs that do not have a licence to sell alcohol, according to the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005, will require a STL Licence:

Guest houses were listed as excluded accommodation in the original Licensing Order, as laid in December 2020. However, they were included in the draft Licensing Order that went to public consultation in June 2021. The rationale for their inclusion is set out in the 2021 consultation paper (item 1 in the table at page 12): Short term lets – draft licensing order and business and regulatory impact assessment (BRIA): consultation – gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Lodges within the grounds of a hotel would be classed as excluded accommodation in the following circumstances (as set out in Schedule 1, 1b):

Premises in respect of which a premises licence within the meaning of section 17 of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005(6) has effect and where the provision of accommodation is an activity listed in the operating plan as defined in section 20(4) of the 2005 Act. There is a section in the operating plan of any premises where you confirm that accommodation is part of the overall activity. If this is stated, the property is excluded from the requirement to have a STL Licence. 

Edinburgh Council approves Short-Term Let Control Area

Posted on by Fiona Campbell

Edinburgh council approved proposal to designate the entire Council area as a Short-term Let Control area. yesterday (23rd February).

Following Scottish MSPs’ vote to support short-term let licensing in January 2022, Edinburgh council have now approved the proposal to designate the entire Council area as a Short-term Let Control area.

The goal for control areas is to manage high concentrations of secondary letting, restrict or prevent short-term lets in places or types of building where it is not appropriate; and help local authorities ensure that homes are used to best effect in their areas.

Edinburgh council is the first council in Scotland to approve the proposal for their council, which will require all short-term lets to apply for planning permission.

According to the short let software company, Bookster’s Director Robin Morris: 

“This Control Area applies across the entire Edinburgh Council area, setting precedent for other councils across Scotland to follow suit. Other areas of the UK will be watching too.

This will devastate the short lets industry in Edinburgh. Cleaners, concierge teams, marketing agencies, and tourism that is dependent on it will be impacted.

Short-term rentals provide for groups such as families and festival performers in a way that hotels simply do not.

This heavy-handed approach to shift towards multinational hotel groups is changing the character of the city before our eyes and syphoning revenue out of Edinburgh.”

Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers Chief Executive, Fiona Campbell, said:

“By voting to include the entire city in this anti-business and restrictive scheme, City of Edinburgh Council has shown that it does not care for the many small businesses who work hard to ensure that the capital continues to have a world-leading tourism offering.

“Councillors are well aware that the real problem is a chronic lack of house-building, but it is much more expedient to scapegoat short-term rental professionals than do anything real to combat that.

“The ASSC will continue to stand alongside Edinburgh’s self-catering professionals, and our colleagues across tourism, to ensure a fair deal for all and an end to the unfair misrepresentation that our sector has endured.”

Parliamentary Questions:

S6W-06964: Mark Griffin, Central Scotland, Scottish Labour, Date Lodged: 01/03/2022 R

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the publication, Planning circular 01/2021: Establishing a Short-term Let Control Area, which is described as being out of date until a new version is made available in Spring 2022, what impact this will have on the (a) control area designation process by local authorities and (b) approval of designation applications by Scottish Ministers.
Current Status: Expected Answer date 15/03/2022

S6W-06962: Mark Griffin, Central Scotland, Scottish Labour, Date Lodged: 01/03/2022 R

To ask the Scottish Government what its process and timeline is for considering whether to approve the City of Edinburgh Council short-term let control area designation.
Current Status: Expected Answer date 15/03/2022

 

First Minister’s Covid-19 Update – 22nd February 2022

Posted on by Fiona Campbell

The First Minister Nicola Sturgeon set out the Scottish Government’s new update to its Strategic Framework for dealing with Covid-19 and outlined some policy announcements which would flow from this approach.

Key Points

Scotland’s Strategic Framework

  • In her update to the Scottish Parliament, the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon set out the Scottish Government’s updated Covid Strategy.[1]
  • This would entail fewer “legally imposed protective measures” and instead “rely predominantly on vaccines, treatments, and sensible public health behaviours and adaptations”.
  • In terms of future developments, the new framework provides three broad levels of future potential threat – low, medium and high. These levels would be guided by data and evidence

Policy Announcements

The First Minister also announced the indicative timetable for the remaining legal protections to be removed:

  • Scotland’s Covid certification scheme would end on 28th February but that it would remain available to any business who wished to use it on a voluntary basis.
  • Face coverings would cease to be mandatory from 21st March but would still be recommended on a voluntary basis through guidance.
  • The collection of customer details for contact tracing purposes, and for businesses, service providers and places of worship to have regard to guidance on Covid and to take reasonably practicable measures set out in the guidance, are also expected to be lifted on 21st March.
  • The Scottish Government would continue to provide people in Scotland with continued access to PCR and lateral flow testing free of charge, ahead of a detailed transition plan being published on the future of Scotland’s test and protect programme in March. The First Minister expressed frustration at the approach taken by the UK Government on testing and the lack of clarity provided on testing infrastructure and funding.
  • Unlike the approach in England, guidance on self-isolation would remain.

[1] See: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-scotlands-strategic-framework-update-february-2022/