Category: Policy

ASSC’s Rebuttal of Evidence Provided by Witnesses on 14th December 2021

The opinions provided on 14^th December to the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee – for that is all they were; certainly not evidence – were extremely shocking both in terms of tone and content. The blatant hostility and antipathy levelled at small tourism accommodation providers was astonishing to behold. The self-confessed lack of evidence from supporters of the legislation provides nothing to back up their position, and yet is being given equal weight to the hard data and evidence provided by industry.

The Association of Scotland’s Self Caterers (ASSC) has received numerous comments from members across Scotland expressing their shock at the vitriol expressed by the witnesses towards small tourism accommodation owners. These are micro businesses caught up in the perfect storm of the damaging economic impact of COVID, in an already fragile rural economy – and now impacted by regulations whose aim has been expressly stated as being to ‘manage [them] down’; or, in other words, to put them out of business.

Due to the level of unsubstantiated claims, generalisations and misrepresentations of our sector, the ASSC were compelled to provide a rebuttal so that the Committee have a full appreciation of the facts.

Further to its consultation responses, as well as written evidence to the LGHP Committee, the  ASSC has provided evidence that short-term let licensing legislation will detrimentally effect thousands of operators, whether self-caterers or indeed home sharers, for no measurable benefit.

Our key concerns about the evidence provided by witnesses covers seven themes:

1. Lack of understanding of sector
2. Economic Impact
3. Lack of data
4. Impact on Local Authorities
5. Anti-social Behaviour
6. Housing
7. ASSC’s Registration and Exemption Proposal

Summary of Concerns

• There is a general consensus from witnesses that the vast majority of operators are professional and compliant, yet there is also an assumption that operators are “unscrupulous”, “poorly regulated or poorly managed”. These contradictory positions cannot hold.
• ASSC members, many of whom have been operating for decades, refute the allegation that the sector is the “Wild West” and at they are “unscrupulous”.
• The accusation of drug dealing, sex trafficking and puppy farming is offensive and unsubstantiated.
• The value of the sector has been undermined and witnesses suggest that is provides no value to the Scottish economy or local communities – our businesses will seemingly not be missed.
• Witnesses evidenced a lack of understanding of the traditional accommodation sector or short-term lets, with repeated discussion regarding one online platform as being ‘the industry’.
• Witnesses evidenced a lack of understanding of existing regulations – in relation to anti-social behaviour and health and safety, as well as evidencing confusion of what it is the legislation is attempting to address
• There is no evidence or data of the impact of short-term lets on housing
• There is no evidence whatsoever to underpin a “reason of general interest”, which is legally required when introducing licensing legislation
• Discussion regarding global corporations and large businesses does not reflect ASSC or Scottish Bed & Breakfast (SBBA) membership – they are micro businesses that have been part of communities for decades
• Contrary to assertions from the panel that industry has fought against regulation, the ASSC proposed registration, transparency and health and safety compliance in 2017
• Witnesses confirmed that the legislation will prove challenging to local authorities
• Only one local authority perspective (Edinburgh, a longstanding supporter of licensing) has been provided as oral evidence, while the Committee’s survey results and consultation responses show considerable concern from other local councils about the impact of licensing.
• Toxic comments from witnesses looking at cases in isolation have caused deep concern from professional legitimate businesses across Scotland

Read the Rebuttle in Full Here:

Rebuttal of Evidence Provided by Witnesses on 14th December 2021

ASSC Submits Written Evidence to the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

The ASSC welcomes the opportunity to provide evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee to help inform their scrutiny of the Scottish Government’s short-term let licensing regulations. This elaborates on the oral evidence we provided to the Committee on 7^th December 2021.

Self-catering is hugely important to Scottish tourism in terms of jobs, revenue, and the world-class experiences we’re able to offer our guests. To be such an essential part of Scotland’s tourism mix is even more remarkable for our sector, which generates £867m per annum when we consider that most self-caterers operate small or micro businesses. Scotland’s professional self-caterers are diligent, conscientious, and considerate business people who are too often unfairly maligned. We do not, for example, ‘hollow out communities’, as some have claimed, but rather are part of local communities across Scotland and have been for many, many years.

The ASSC is not averse to regulation; but we do challenge policies which will damage the livelihoods of our members and Scotland’s vital tourism industry. Overall, we want to ensure a balanced and proportionate approach for business, tourism and local communities and get a regulatory framework in place that works for all. It must also be remembered that professional operators are already regulated so the mandatory conditions are essentially duplication and therefore unnecessary.

Any regulations pursued need to be underpinned by robust empirical data. Unfortunately, there has been a tendency to focus on so-called ‘scraped data’ from Airbnb which can lead to misleading conclusions about the nature of the short-term letting landscape in Scotland.

Overall, this one-size fits all, onerous and disproportionate licensing system will damage Scottish tourism and discriminates against small and micro businesses like self-catering and B&Bs, especially in rural and remote areas, and comes at the worst possible time for industry when Covid-19 remains an ongoing issue and when the sector is still in recovery mode.

Committee Evidence December 2021

Housing and Short-Term Lets in Scotland: The Facts

Short-term lets are often presented as being a leading cause of Scotland’s housing crisis. However, it is important to place the debate in a holistic context – for instance, noting the number of empty homes in Scotland, demographic changes, and the need to build more homes – while recognising the value of tourist accommodation to the Scottish economy and local communities.

The ASSC welcomes the opportunity to share data about the holiday let sector which we believe will contribute to a more informed conversation about the appropriate regulatory framework.

Self-Catering in Scotland

• Self-catering properties have been a longstanding presence in communities for generations, especially in rural/remote communities, and provide an economic boost for local areas and enhance Scotland’s tourist accommodation offering.
• Latest figures show there are 17,794 self-catering units on Non-Domestic Rates. These properties generate: 4 million visitor nights per year; £867.1m total visitor spend; and support 23,979 FTE jobs.[1]
• Such self-catering properties are legitimate, bona fide businesses whose owners depend on the money generated for their livelihood – it is not a hobby or a way to supplement their income. This is entirely separate from the ‘homesharing’ concept, or those amateur operators who utilise online marketing platforms but are not subject to the same levels of existing regulation.

The Need for Robust Empirical Data

• Underpinning any decision to regulate the short-term letting sector is the need for robust, empirical data. Unfortunately, there has been a tendency to focus on scraped data from Airbnb – based on inaccurate information and flawed methodologies – leading to misleading conclusions about the nature of the short-term letting landscape.[2]
• The ASSC is not averse to regulation and has proactively shared evidence-based policy papers and recommendations[3] since 2017 about the nature and scale of short-term letting in Scotland but unfortunately this has been ignored by a focus on this unreliable data from one marketing platform.
• The Scottish Government’s draft BRIA for short-term let licensing references research noting that there were approximately 32,000 active listings on Airbnb in May 2019.[4] However, this does not mean that there are 32,000 short-term lets which would be readily available on the long-term housing market as many have erroneously claimed.
• The number of listings on online platforms in any given area is not necessarily an indication of impact on long-term housing. For example: (a) many of these properties are already the primary residences of individuals involved in ‘homesharing’ who share a room(s), or their entire home while away; (b) each listing does not represent a single housing unit. A property can have multiple listings; and (c) marketing platforms like Airbnb contain a diverse range of accommodation including hotels and B&Bs, as well as unconventional accommodation like yurts, barns, boats, and campervans and one train, which cannot be seen as housing stock.
• Parliamentary answers from the Scottish Government[5] confirm the BRIA figures were from scraped data provided by InsideAirbnb (not from Airbnb directly) and that they could not break this down by property type – be it a single/shared room, entire property, or unconventional accommodation. This means the estimation there are 32,000 “short-term lets” is wholly unreliable. It is also based on pre-pandemic 2019 figures. Moreover, they admit “we do not have an estimate of how many short-term lets will return to the long-term housing market.”[6]11

A Holistic Discussion on Housing

The housing challenges facing Scotland are far more multifaceted than the existence and growth of short-term and holiday lets alone. For instance:

• There are currently 47,333 empty houses in Scotland (of which 7152 are in Edinburgh, 3536 in Glasgow, 2943 in Fife, 2595 Highland).[7] These empty homes could be utilised for far more productive purposes and provide homes for those who need.
• The number of households in Scotland continued to increase in 2020, reaching 2.51 million. This was an increase of 142,800 (6%) since 2010. The growth in the number of households is partly due to an increase in the population, but also because people are increasingly living alone or with fewer other people. More than a third of households are single person households. An estimated 900,000 people are living alone.
• There were 2.65 million dwellings in Scotland in 2020. Of these, 90,500 dwellings (3%) were vacant and 24,500 (1%) were second homes.[8]
• Empty and second homes are concentrated in different parts of the country. For example, remote rural areas have a higher percentage of empty and second homes than urban areas[9]. However, City of Edinburgh is a hotspot for empty homes in Scotland.
• 172,170 houses were built between 2010-2019 (18,118 in Edinburgh)[10] – and we need many more. Homes for Scotland have argued that Scotland has amassed a housing shortfall of 85,000 homes and that we need to build at least 25,000 per year to meet the demands of our population.[11]
• Progress on housebuilding is not fast enough. For instance, the Scottish Government have only spent half of their £25m Rural Housing Fund which aims to build affordable homes in rural areas.[12]
• City of Edinburgh had the largest increase in absolute number of households (17,300), an increase of 8%.[13]
• Over the last ten years, the proportion of dwellings which are second homes has increased in five council areas and decreased in 24 council areas.[14]
• When housing demand and the level of empty housing is set against the number of self-catering units, it suggests self-catering activity is not of a scale sufficient to affect housing supply issues in Scotland. Ultimately, building too few homes remains the core cause of Scotland’s housing problems, not the holiday let sector.

Conclusion

• Policymakers should not use holiday accommodation as a means to solve housing challenges in Scotland, instead focusing on building more affordable homes and tackling the scourge of empty properties.
• Any short-term let regulations taken forward, either at a national or local level, need to be informed by robust empirical data. Scraped data from online platforms can lead to misleading conclusions about the nature of the short-term letting market.
• The Scottish Government’s BRIA accompanying their licensing proposals states: “A benefit of licensing will be improved access to affordable rented homes.” This claim is entirely unfounded and lacks an evidence base.
• Any housing issues in relation to short-term lets should be addressed by the Planning Act 2019 – through the introduction of control zones underpinned by robust quantitative data – and should not play a part in the licensing proposals which are meant to focus on health and safety.
• Small businesses like self-catering, present in communities for decades, should not be used as a convenient scapegoat for wider failures in housing policy.
• The Scottish Government needs to back legitimate professional businesses and our renowned tourism sector as we recover from the effects of Covid-19, allowing visitors at home and abroad to benefit from our unique hospitality and fantastic range of accommodation.

Footnotes

[1] https://www.assc.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Economic-Impact-Study-%E2%80%93Scotland-Report.pdf

[2] This is evident in both the Scottish Government’s BRIA accompanying their licensing proposals, as well as City of Edinburgh Council’s plans for a short-term let control area.

[3] For instance, see ASSC, Far More Than Just Houses: The Benefits of Short-Term Rental in Scotland (2018). Url: https://www.assc.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/MoreThanJustHouses.pdf; and ASSC, Forward Together: A Collaborative Approach to Short-Term Letting (2020). Url: https://www.assc.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020_ForwardTogether.pdf

[4] https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/impact-assessment/2021/06/short-term-lets-licensing-scheme-planning-control-area-legislation-draft-business-regulatory-impact-assessment-bria/documents/short-term-lets-licensing-scheme-planning-control-area-legislation-draft-business-regulatory-impact-assessment-bria-consultation/short-term-lets-licensing-scheme-planning-control-area-legislation-draft-business-regulatory-impact-assessment-bria-consultation/govscot%3Adocument/short-term-lets-licensing-scheme-planning-control-area-legislation-draft-business-regulatory-impact-assessment-bria-consultation.pdf

[5] Parliamentary answer to S6W-02111. Url: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers/question?ref=S6W-02111

[6] Parliamentary answer to S6W-02109. Url: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers/question?ref=S6W-02109

[7] https://goodmove.co.uk/empty-housing-hotspots/

[8] Vacant properties include those classified as:  long-term (six months or more) empty (47,300, 1.8% of all dwellings); unoccupied exemptions (43,200, 1.6% of all dwellings) such as new homes yet to be occupied and dwellings undergoing repair or awaiting demolition. See: https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files//statistics/household-estimates/2020/house-est-20-publication.pdf

[9] https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/statistics/statistics-by-theme/households/household-estimates/2020

[10] https://www.gov.scot/publications/housing-statistics-for-scotland-new-house-building/

[11] https://yourviews.parliament.scot/session-5/local-gov-sustainability-covid/consultation/download_public_attachment?sqId=question-2020-06-10-3171498657-publishablefilesubquestion&uuId=866941340

[12] https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/politics/scottish-politics/2493715/snp-ministers-under-fire-over-failure-to-spend-25-million-rural-housing-fund/

[13] https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files//statistics/household-estimates/2020/house-est-20-publication.pdf

[14] https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files//statistics/household-estimates/2020/house-est-20-publication.pdf