September 2021 - Page 4 of 6

Scottish Government plan would mean fewer tourists in rural areas

Posted on September 14, 2021September 15, 2021 by Melanie Allen

By Guy Stenhouse for the Herald – 13 September 2021

Rural Scotland – though wonderful in many ways – is economically challenged.

There are exceptions but in most very rural places there is depopulation and more particularly an increasingly ageing population.

The SNP Government sitting comfortably in Holyrood realises there is a problem but misdiagnoses what that problem is and repeatedly applies the wrong solutions.

The key problems are poor connectivity – both physical and digital, a lack of appropriate housing stock, poor access to services such as healthcare and education and, above all, a lack of jobs.

Within this cocktail of difficult background factors the chumps within the SNP Government have identified a pantomime villain – the holiday-letting industry – and decided to clobber it.

Let’s be clear, there is a problem with too many holiday lets in certain specific areas, especially Edinburgh. The Scottish Parliament last year passed legislation to enable local councils to require planning permission for holiday lets in areas where there is too much pressure. Provided it is used in a targeted and appropriate way this is sensible. The City of Edinburgh Council has said it wants to use this power and it is hard to argue with it.

Unfortunately, having already dealt with the actual issue through planning, the Scottish Government has ploughed on and decided to require all holiday lets to be licensed and it is in the detail of its proposals that the dangers lie.

The Government says its objectives are to ensure safety and good standards but in fact there is existing legislation already in place for fire precautions, water quality, neighbour nuisance etcetera which achieves that. The new legislation is unnecessary but its effect would be to reduce quality and choice for tourists and adversely impact income and jobs in rural areas.

The proposed licence requirements enable councils to set onerous and subjective criteria which allow refusal. On top of that the licences have to be renewed every three years.

What this means is that owners will not invest in upgrading their accommodation. How can you build a new facility if you might be refused a licence next time? What bank will lend to a holiday-let owner if the cashflow which will service the loan might only last three years at most? Saying that everybody will act sensibly does not avoid the damage – the existence of these powers is what would cause the trouble.

The consequence would be less good quality accommodation and in turn fewer tourists and less spending power brought to rural areas. Tourists spend money in shops, they buy meals in restaurants, maintaining and upgrading their accommodation provides work for local tradespeople. Nearly everywhere in rural Scotland we want more tourists not less.

The solution is simple. Holiday lets should have an automatic right to a licence if they meet the necessary objective safety criteria and an automatic right to renewal of that licence if they continue to comply. To ease the bureaucratic burden on councils you actually don’t need licensing at all but a registration scheme run by an industry body – many other countries opt for this simpler arrangement. The Scottish Government needs to stop pretending to listen to stakeholders who have been telling them their licence scheme will be a disaster – the key industry bodies resigned from the working group the Government had set up – and actually come up with something workable and appropriate.

What the Scottish Government should be doing is actually helping to sustain the economies of rural areas.

The system for procuring and operating our ferries has proved itself an utter disaster. Caledonian MacBrayne should be broken up and separate operators allowed to bid for individual routes and provide their own ships – communities should be encouraged to bid themselves.

Fast, reliable broadband – spend the money and get it done.

Housing – the problem is not too many second homes but too little supply of new houses. We have plenty of land so get some more houses built and give local people preferred access to them.

Jobs – Scottish ministers should ask themselves constantly why they are doing tasks in the central belt. Government should take the lead both directly and through its agencies by basing activities in our rural areas to support their economies. That is what devolution is supposed to be all about – power was not given to Scotland only to be hoarded in Edinburgh.

Guy Stenhouse is a Scottish financial sector veteran who wrote formerly as Pinstripe

Law Society of Scotland STL Licensing Consultation Submission

Posted on September 10, 2021 by Fiona Campbell

Key Quotes from Law Society of Scotland STL Licensing Consultation Submission (2021)

Overprovision and Duplication of Planning/Licensing Regimes

“Our main concerns reflected that once the draft Order is laid and passed that it needs to be right. Principally, there appears to be confusion between the requirements of the separate planning and licensing schemes. These have separate purposes which need to be respected albeit that short term lets will operate under one local authority but crucially, by them wearing different hats. Since the operation of the short term lets is not being set up by new and specific bespoke legislation but instead seeks to add onto the existing schemes set up under the 1982 Act where current caselaw and practices prevail. In setting up a licensing regime, the focus for licensing is about the fit and proper person being the person responsible for the short term let. As the draft Order stands, we consider that the risk of challenge is high – and this could potentially follow on from what has been a high-profile and to an extent controversial decision to proceed by a licensing scheme for short term. That confusion needs resolved before the draft Order should be laid.” (p2-3)

“We do not consider that the implications of these provisions [overprovision] have been fully thought through. This touches on conflating licensing and planning matters. If the issue is not fully resolved now, we suspect that this is going to remain a significant area of challenge, given the existence of these somewhat blurred lines…When considering the implications for overprovision, as we explained, please consider what the “mischief” is. Why include this as a mandatory provision for licensing? This also risks duplication with other areas of policy in planning. With this potential for conflict, Ministers could refuse to grant a planning STL control zone but thereafter the Local Authority may write up an overprovision policy that could have a similar effect.” (p4-5)

“We have concerns about the duplication of conditions under the separate planning and licensing regimes. We predict that this is also going to cause other issues in respect of building standards and fire safety. This may go onto to have implications for different Local Authorities if they provide for or require different standards of evidence etc. for the mandatory conditions. Compliance may vary – which makes it difficult for those operating across different local authority regions.” (p6)

Impact on Local Councils

“As we have indicated previously, there are significant implications arising from these timescales for the licensing authorities. We are concerned with the internal resourcing that will be required and if that provides sufficient time. Some reassurance should be sought to confirm support for these timescales on the proposed implementation.” (p4)

Notifications

“We consider that there are various aspects which seem problematic. The proposal that notification should be undertaken for all within 20m is disproportionate compared to other regimes such as alcohol licensing where the equivalent area is 4m. (See section 3 of the draft Guidance (paper 4)). This will be very burdensome for local authorities, particularly in densely populated/city centre areas.

Local authorities do not have the resources to cope with site notifications rather than placing the obligation on the applicant to notify as they are best placed to do so, and which forms the current licensing practice. It is much easier for the applicant to undertake and not the local authority…

Issues of competency following the grant of a short term let may well arise if notices have not been displayed in accordance with the requirements. Section 2(7) of Schedule 1 of the 1982 Act sets out the public licence requirements quite clearly – why the short term lets should seek to change them is unclear on what appears to operate effectively meantime. This is not a new regime but involves the use of existing legislation to put in place the proposed new short term let licensing scheme.” (p5)

Appeals

“…the draft Order does not include any appeal mechanisms. Consideration should be given to the inclusion of an appeal scheme as this should apply in respect of the grant of a licence and/or any refusal of a licence. This is only fair to avoid recourse to judicial review which is expensive, challenging and time consuming. The European Union Services Directive may apply in respect of appeal provisions.” (p5)

BRIA

“We agree that this is the main purpose of the inclusion of licensing, but we have concerns over several the terms of the draft Order…If the requirements on those seeking to let their property are too onerous or expensive, then they will be deterred from operating short term lets which is not the purpose in providing for a licensing scheme. It is important to maintain or indeed achieve that balance. There are concerns in bringing in this system as a Scotland wide policy that this will adversely affect rural areas and the availability of short- term lets. For instance, the effect/financial impact on the small-time individual lessor, who perhaps uses an old family home very occasionally for a holiday let, will be disproportionally far greater than on a commercial business whose raison d’etre is the letting of properties on a short-term basis.” (p7).

Guidance

“It is unusual that draft Guidance (Papers 4 and 5) is being drafted before the policy as set out in the draft Order on the short term lets is finalised.” (p3)

“…we would seek the inclusion of a requirement that both sets of Guidance are kept under regular review once they are published and that the responsibility for their maintenance is clarified. We have voiced concerns about Guidance previously that is unclear and is not kept up to date to reflect changes in the law. It is easiest given the work going forward if this is specifically set out as a legislative requirement. This ties in with our observations that the Guidance is not legal advice and cannot be relied upon in that sense. The status and ownership of the Guidance must also be made clear.” (p4)

Read the full submission.

Short Term Let Control Area Covering Badenoch & Strathspey Proposed

Posted on September 9, 2021 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.