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Month: September 2022

City of Edinburgh Council STL Policy

Posted on by Fiona Campbell

City of Edinburgh Council has today agreed recommendations regarding their short-term let policy.

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

“Edinburgh Council’s plans are a hammer blow for the tourism industry in the nation’s capital. We are extremely disappointed that business and tourism stakeholder group warnings have once again been overlooked, jeopardising the £70m economic boost self-catering provides to Edinburgh, as well as the hundreds of jobs and livelihoods this supports.”

“What has been agreed amounts to nothing less than a de-facto ban on secondary letting and we note the Council’s recognition that aspects of their policy carry significant legal risk. This is despite the fact that self-catering properties have been a long-standing presence in the capital for decades and should not therefore be used as a convenient scapegoat for policy failures elsewhere.”

“There are also wider implications for Edinburgh, including for the future viability of the Festivals. We are presuming that the rebuttable presumption against the grant of a licence in stairwells, means that no home in a stairwell will be granted a temporary exemption either, in which case the Edinburgh Festival 2023 is in considerable trouble indeed.”

Policy Recommendations

  • ECC have removed three additional conditions on maintenance of fire precautions, gas, drainage; keyboxes; and visitor access/departure times
  • They won’t be taking forward a cap on numbers at this stage due to a “significant risk” of legal challenge and “insufficient evidence”
  • They believe Option A poses less of a risk of legal challenge than Option B
  • A further report highlighting the Council’s approach to the enforcement of STL and the associated costs will be brought forward in due course.

Additional Conditions

4.46 As part of the review of the consultation responses, detailed legal advice has also been taken on the proposed additional conditions. As a result, draft STL1 of the proposed conditions (which referred to the maintenance of fire precautions, gas, drainage etc) has been removed from the recommended additional conditions as it was considered that this replicated the terms of the mandatory conditions set by the 1982 Act, which could result in a legal risk to the policy.

4.47 It was further considered that draft conditions STL3, (which referred to visitor access and egress times) and STL6 (which referred to key boxes) of the originally drafted policy may present a legal risk to the Council. Therefore, draft conditions STL3 and 6 has been removed and a revised condition STL2 has been included in the policy. The revised condition seeks to address the same issues as the draft STL3 and STL6 conditions, whilst minimising the risk of legal challenge to the Council.

Cap on Numbers

4.53 It is therefore clear that there is support for a cap on the number of nights, which accommodation may be used for home letting, being introduced. However, taking into account that it is recommended that temporary licences and temporary exemptions should be made available, it is considered too restrictive to introduce a cap of this kind. Additionally, it is considered that there is insufficient evidence on which to base a decision to set a cap and that there would be a significant risk of legal challenge if one were to be introduced. Committee are advised that further work would be required before any further recommendations could be brought forward on this matter.

Secondary Letting in Tenement / Shared Main Door Accommodation

4.20 Trade groups affected have argued strongly that the presumption against these options would amount to a de facto ban on secondary letting within tenements. Members will be aware from their training and experience that with any licensing policy, any application would be required to be considered on its individual merits and applicants would be entitled to make a case for exemption from either of the options presented above. For example, the Licensing Sub-Committee could consider an application for a secondary letting STL licence for accommodation within tenement or shared main door accommodation and would have to determine whether a case had been made by an applicant to be considered an exception to the terms of the policy.

4.21 After consideration of the consultation responses, it is recommended that the Committee agrees that Option A as the most suitable approach in respect of secondary letting in tenement or shared main door accommodation. Option A sets a clear policy direction which has public support. Moreover, legal advice has been sought on the robustness of both options and it is considered that there is a lower risk of successful legal challenge if Option A was included within the policy.

Fees

4.59 The fees are intended to fully recover the costs of delivering a licensing scheme. After consideration of the anticipated costs of administering and enforcing a licensing regime for STLs, officers propose application fees as outlined at Appendix 7. In order to give some context, the fee for a three person occupancy secondary letting application equates to a cost of £12.56 per week to the applicant. For the same type of application with a 21 person occupancy, the cost of the application equates to £113 per week. See below.

Press Coverage:

Scottish Government Rejects Call to Delay STL Regulations

Posted on by Fiona Campbell

The ASSC shared proposals with MSPs, as well as Scottish Government Cabinet Secretaries/Ministers, to pause the implementation of short-term let regulations in light of the cost of living crisis.

We welcomed that Scottish Ministers were keen to explore all areas of recent and proposed devolved regulation on Scottish businesses as well as any financial costs that companies may be asked for around such things as licensing, certification etc.

We encouraged Ministers to meaningfully explore if there was scope to consider how any of these regulatory impacts could be moderated to try and help reduce the burden on business over the short-term and during the current cost crisis.

Read the ASSC proposal: ASSC Cost of Living Crisis Briefing

Regrettably, this was rejected by the Scottish Government yesterday in a letter from the Cabinet Secretary of Housing, Shona Robison MSP. 

Read the letter: Response 202200321133

Planning Fees in Edinburgh

Posted on by Fiona Campbell

Following the national fee changes in April 2022, there are two further important changes to planning fees specific to Edinburgh. This approach has also been taken in Perth and Kinross.

“To reflect these changes, we have created a Planning Fees Charter which is now available on our website.

  • From 1 October 2022 retrospective planning applications will be subject to a 25% surcharge
  • Reduced fees: some fees for not for profit or social enterprises can now receive a 25% discount

Below is a summary of the changes:

Retrospective Applications

A retrospective application is an application for planning permission for a development which has already commenced or has been completed without planning permission.

Retrospective applications often result from Enforcement enquiries but can also be the result of other factors. A surcharge on retrospective applications is being introduced to provide a means of recovering some of the costs of carrying out enforcement investigations.

From 1 October 2022, Edinburgh Council will be imposing the maximum 25% surcharge allowed by the regulations.

As an example, an average householder application for a summerhouse in retrospect, would mean the normal application fee of £300 plus a further 25% (£75).

If you are submitting a retrospective application, it is important that you highlight this at the time of submission.

The surcharge will not be calculated when an application is submitted on e-planning.scot. This is because e-planning is a national service which does not consider individual charges by local authorities. This will mean that the extra fee will be requested when your application is registered. If the required surcharge is not paid, your application will not be progressed to determination.

Reduced Fees

Starting immediately, Edinburgh Council will reduce the fee by 25% for applications which relates to development which

  • has the primary purpose of contributing to a not for profit or social enterprise
  • relates to development which is likely to contribute to improving the health of residents in the area to which the application relates.

Applications must meet both the above criteria to be considered for an exemption.

The amount levied will depend on the type of application. For example, a £300 fee would be reduced to £225.

The full statutory fee should be paid when the application is submitted. The Council will make a decision on receipt of an application as to whether a 25% reduction is applicable and will refund the applicant accordingly.

Prospective applicants should make clear in their supporting information if they are seeking a reduction in the application fee.

Clear justification should be given for why the applicant believes that a reduction in the fee is applicable.

For full details, see our revised Planning Fees Charter.”