Meeting of the Parliament 13 September 2023
Mr Johnson is absolutely correct to raise that issue. As of August, 84 per cent of short-term lets had not applied for a licence. That suggests that there is a major issue with people not being aware of the requirement. I have heard anecdotally—I am sure that others in the chamber have, too—of operators, including people who operate bed and breakfasts, simply not being aware of it. They are simply not aware that the regulations are coming in and that they are required to comply with them. After 1 October, they will potentially be committing an offence if they have not applied.
There was never any need for a one-size-fits-all approach to legislation. It would have been perfectly possible for the Scottish Government to have devolved to local councils the right to draw up rules for their own areas. Those with a history of complaints about the operation of self-catering lets would then have had the opportunity to take a different approach from those in other, perhaps more rural, areas, where self-catering lets have been operating as part of the tourist sector for decades more without any problems appearing. It is a source of regret that the Scottish Government decided to introduce a national scheme instead of letting councils have the discretion whether to introduce it locally.
Those who support the legislation would argue that a proliferation of short-term lets drives up housing costs, reduces affordability and contributes to a cost of housing crisis. I point them to the analysis done by the Fraser of Allander Institute of the legislation’s business and regulatory impact assessment; it reveals that the Scottish Government has made no attempt to quantify the number of properties that might be released from secondary letting and then made available as permanent homes as a result of the licensing scheme. In the words of the Fraser of Allander Institute, section E of the BRIA is
“notable for the absence of any quantification of impacts.”
The headline figures quoted for the numbers involved in short-term lets include those who rent out their spare rooms, and surely it must be highly unlikely that, should they cease that activity, they will be selling up and thus providing additional accommodation for those who are currently seeking it.
Such anecdotal information as we have to date supports the view that there will be no boom in affordable properties as a consequence of the legislation. In The Herald just last week, Mark Tate, chief executive of the Cairngorms Chamber of Commerce, stated that, of the 16 properties in his area that he was aware of that had so far withdrawn from the market as a result of the new rules, 12 had become second homes. Those properties have gone from being economically active for 35 to 40 weeks of the year, occupied by people who are coming to visit and who put money into the economy, to being occupied for no more than two to three weeks in the year. It is the worst possible outcome.