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Category: Short-Term Let Regulations

Short Term Let Control Area Covering Badenoch & Strathspey Proposed

Posted on by Fiona Campbell

The following Notice of Motion has been received by the Head of Corporate Governance, Highland Council, and will be voted on today:

“Given the serious problems occurring in Badenoch & Strathspey due to the massive increase in Short Term Lets and the effect that has on the provision of permanent dwellings, that the Council agrees a draft proposal to designate a Short Term Let Control Area covering the whole of Badenoch & Strathspey as detailed under the Town and Country Planning (Short-term Let Control Areas) (Scotland) Regulations 2021.”

Short-term lets are often positioned as being a leading cause of Scotland’s housing crisis. It is vital to place the debate in a holistic context – for example, appreciating the number of empty homes in Scotland, demographic changes (population increasing), and the need to build more homes – while at the same time recognising the value of tourist accommodation to the Scottish economy and local communities.

How many Short-term lets are there in Badenoch and Strathspey? There are 5,800 SCUs in whole of Highland region (25,656 km²). There are 2595 empty homes in Highland.

The ASSC doesn’t dispute that there is a housing crisis, but housing needs to be looked at strategically. However, there is no point scapegoating the self-catering sector that benefits the Scottish economy to the tune of £867m per annum.

Self-catering properties are legitimate, bona fide businesses where the owners depend on the money generated for their livelihood – it is not a hobby or a way to supplement their income.

Airbnb listings, nor scraped data, do not translate to homes that will ever be available on the private market. Airbnb listings include boutique hotels, shepherds huts, yurts, campsites and indeed a train.

Any decision to regulate the short-term letting sector needs to be underpinned by robust, empirical data. Unfortunately, there has been a tendency to do the exact opposite and policy decisions are being based on inaccurate information and flawed methodologies – which leads to misleading conclusions about the nature of the short-term letting landscape and may irreparably damage tourism in Scotland.

Highland Council Publishes Concerns about STL Legislation

Posted on by Fiona Campbell

Highland Council have released a statement on the draft Short-Term Let Legislation:

A response to the Scottish Government from The Highland Council seeks clarification on the Government’s proposals for licensing of short term lets.

Highland Councillors are to discuss the local authority’s response to the Scottish Government’s Short Term Lets consultation on draft Licensing Order and Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) tomorrow, 31 August 2021, at the meeting of the Communities and Place Committee.

Short term lets can bring substantial economic benefits to communities but they can also have negative aspects in reducing availability of residential housing and in some circumstances, disturbing residents.

The Council has engaged on the issues around Short Term Lets with the Scottish Government since it set up its panel on the collaborative economy in 2017. The Council responded to the Government in August 2019; September 2020; to the Scottish Parliament on their call for views in January 2021 and again to the Scottish Government on the Licensing Control Order by the deadline of 13 August 2021.

The Government have published legislation on introducing Control areas to manage high concentrations of secondary letting in areas where it can affect availability of residential housing. The Council are aware of the pressures in areas of the Highlands due to short term lets and are considering options for a framework policy on Control areas.

The recent consultation was on the proposed licensing  of short term lets and it outlines changes the Government have made to the proposed Licensing Order following the previous consultation include: bothies; excluded tenancies; temporary exemptions; overprovision; public register; energy efficiency and energy performance certificates; insurance; and the definition of ‘short-term letting activity’.

Key matters raised in the response were officers’ concerns regarding the ‘overprovision’ rationale and the timescale for gathering evidence for an Overprovision Policy Statement by October 2022. Clarification has been requested as this will require Highland Council to carry out site visits and monitor compliance and enforcement on around 10,000 premises in the region.

The new regulations will have significant resource implications for the Council in terms of Planning, Licensing and Environmental Health. When the Licensing Order is brought into force the Council will have a duty to establish a licensing scheme for short-term lets in the area.

See the news release.

The Communities and Place Committee highlight two main concerns:

  • officers are concerned that the introduction of overprovision is confusing as the purpose would appear very similar to Control Areas.
  • officers are concerned over the timescale for gathering evidence for an Overprovision Policy Statement by October 2022.

Read the Committee Notes.

 

BETTER REGULATION AGENDA AND THE REGULATOR’S STRATEGIC CODE OF PRACTICE

Posted on by Fiona Campbell

The ASSC engaged the respected legal firm Burness Paull LLP in Summer 2021 to provide expert comment on the Scottish Government’s short-term let regulatory plans and their arguments are set out below.

We consider that the draft Order creates a regulatory framework that is manifestly inconsistent with the Scottish Government’s Better Regulation Agenda [18] and the principles of regulation being proportionate; consistent; accountable; transparent and targeted only where needed

Furthermore the draft Order creates a framework that is inconsistent with the Regulator’s Strategic Code of Practice to which local authorities as regulators must have regard under Section 5 (5) of the Regulatory Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 in exercising any regulatory functions.

In particular we consider that the draft Order would effect breaches of the Code in the following manner:

Clause 2 of the Code: Regulators should pursue a positive enabling approach in their pursuit of outcomes, which contribute to ‘sustainable economic growth’. [Section 4 and 5, Paper 2: Draft Licensing Order] demonstrate the drastic economic consequences that will inevitably result from the new regulatory proposal.

Clause 2 of the Code. Regulators require to be committed in their decisions, actions and policies to the five principles of better regulation: regulation should be transparent, accountable, consistent, proportionate and targeted only where needed. However, as has been outlined above, the ASSC considers the entire framework to be disproportionate, potentially inconsistent in its application between regulators (e.g., local authorities) and that, without empirical data, seeks to regulate distinct sections of the self-catering industry in a blunt and blanket manner manifestly failing to target its regulation at genuine, identified issues.

Clause 3 of the Code requires Regulators to be enablers to help support businesses to grow sustainably. The draft Order for all of the aforementioned reasons cannot meet this objective it will stifle rather than support small businesses in this sector. This regulatory framework would also force regulatory decisions to be taken in a manner that is entirely inconsistent with many of the principles in this clause including:

  • minimising business compliance costs, where possible, by reducing unnecessary bureaucracy and delays;
  • helping those they regulate to design simple and cost-effective compliance solutions to improve confidence and day to day management control.