Chamber and committees

Licensing Scheme for Short-Term Holiday Lets

Letter from The Highland Council, 8 December 2021

Dear Ariane 

Licensing Scheme for Short-Term Holiday Lets

Can I firstly apologise that the Council was unable to provide a representative to give oral evidence to your committee on the licensing scheme for shortterm holiday lets last week. However, I am grateful for this opportunity to set out the Council’s position as agreed by members at their meeting on 28 October 2021 where the following motion was passed: - 

“Council strongly urges the Scottish Government to drop its proposed licensing scheme for short-term holiday lets and instead adopt the registration scheme proposed by the Association of Scottish Self Caterers. This would be far less costly for operators and less onerous for the Highland Council to administer, whilst providing proven health and safety protection. The proposed scheme is not appropriate for the Highlands”. 

The alternative scheme covered in the motion by the Association of Scottish Self Caterers would still include licensing but operators who were part of a registration scheme, and meet registration conditions, would be exempt from licensing. Councillors were concerned that the scheme would apply large new burdens to many thousands of people in the Highlands whose income is wholly or partly dependent on short-term lets and B&Bs. The licensing scheme as currently framed would involve additional cost and considerable uncertainty as licenses could be subject to vexatious complaint and lengthy appeals. 

This motion was narrowly carried and there clearly mixed views across the chamber on this matter. 

On 5 November 2021 I wrote to Shona Robison MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government asking her to consider the terms of this motion passed by the Council.  

The Cabinet Secretary replied on 1 December to advise that The Scottish Government has not taken forward the exemption proposal for the reasons set out in the Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment. 

I have attached as an appendix to this letter an extract from the Highland Council Minute 28 October 2021 which sets out the reasoning behind this motion put forward by the members. 
 
I do hope my letter is helpful in explaining the rationale behind this motion.

yours sincerely  

Margaret Davidson 
Leader of the Highland Council  

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Appendix  

Extract from the Highland Council Minute 28 October 2021  

Notice of Motion 

Council strongly urges the Scottish Government to drop its proposed licensing scheme for short-term holiday lets and instead adopt the registration scheme proposed by the Association of Scottish Self Caterers. This would be far less costly for operators and less onerous for the Highland Council to administer, whilst providing proven health and safety protection. The proposed scheme is not appropriate for the Highlands.  

Signed: Mr G Adam Mr A Graham Mr C Aitken  

Prior to discussion, and on the request of the Convener, the Head of Corporate Governance confirmed that it was clear from the declarations of interest which had been received that a number of Members had already given the terms of this Motion some thought. 

As such, he clarified that all Members of the Council should consider their position in terms of whether they might have a financial interest in premises or businesses which operated as short term lets (or were likely to be registered as short term lets) and, if this was the case, they should take appropriate action in accordance with the Councillors’ Code of Conduct.  

Thereafter, and in response to a query as to whether the mover of the Motion (Mr G Adam) had a potential conflict of interest in this issue, Mr Adam confirmed that he had been advised not to bring this Motion to the Council as the owner of a short term let property. However, he would not be the owner of that property after the Summer of 2022 (and before any new legislation came into effect) and on that basis he respectfully disagreed with the advice which had been offered to him and would take part in this item.  

He also expressed concern in relation to the Members who had declared an interest as owners of short term let properties and/or B&B properties and who felt (both because of that declaration and the current rules) that they could not take part in the item. It was his opinion that those Members had considerable expertise in this matter and for that reason their views should be heard. As such, it was therefore his intention to raise this situation with the Standards Commission in due course.  

Thereafter, and during discussion, Members raised the following issues: -  

• this Motion provided Members with a ‘last minute’ chance to influence legislation being put before the Scottish Parliament over the next few weeks which would fundamentally alter the way that short term lets and B&Bs were regulated. As such, a licensing scheme was now being proposed which would result in far more bureaucracy, additional cost and significant uncertainty for the approximately 10k short term let and B&B owners in the Highlands.  
• the Scottish Government had faced significant opposition on this issue and had made some concessions but not on the key issue which was to replace the licensing scheme with a registration scheme. In this respect, it had been estimated that around 6 new members of staff would be needed by the Council, at least initially, as a result of the new legislation and this would impact on budgets which were already under pressure;  
• it was also being proposed that the costs of the new scheme would be recovered from additional charges to operators, and it was anticipated that such costs could be considerable;  
  • the vast majority of such premises in the Highlands were already of a high standard and professionally run so the compromise being offered by the Association for Scottish Self Caterers was that these professional properties should be registered, with licensing reserved for unregistered properties of a lower standard;  
• it was also not considered that this legislation should be applied to the Highlands as it was felt that it had been drafted to address problems which had been highlighted in other parts of Scotland;  
• this issue mattered because tourism underpinned the Highland economy and was probably the largest private sector employer in the area. As such, the proposed licensing scheme proposed a significant risk on the basis that it might drive a large number of smaller operators out of the tourism business;  
• it had to be acknowledged that there were now a considerable number of properties in the Highlands which had been turned into short term lets or AirBnB premises and this was creating a range of issues, including having a detrimental effect on the future development of housing. In this respect, the proposed legislation being brought forward by the Scottish Government sought to address a number of issues, including in relation to tourism, and it was important that the consultation process proceeded as planned in order to allow all opinions and responses to be submitted;  
• an amendment would be put forward at the appropriate time for the Council to recognise the Scottish Government proposals for a licensing scheme for short term holiday lets and encourage communities to make their representations through the appropriate channels;  
  • there was already evidence of social disturbance attached to short term lets, AirBnB premises, pods, etc and a significant increase in the number of properties across the Highlands which were now being classed as ‘party houses’. This was having a negative effect in local areas and especially in remote and rural communities where responses to such disturbances could often not be as quick as in urban areas;  
• there was absolutely a need for licensing of properties where there was no overall control, not least to provide protection for adjacent properties and communities;  
• it was not felt that the proposed legislation was the best way to deal with the issues which had been identified as it would effectively just be ‘adding on’ to what was considered by some to be an already flawed licensing process and not fundamentally addressing this situation; and  
• whilst there were clearly issues with some properties, it was not correct to class all short term let and AirBnB properties in the same way and attribute the same problems/issues to them all.  

Thereafter, Mr G Adam, seconded by Mr A Graham, MOVED the terms of the Notice of Motion as detailed.  
 
Dr I Cockburn, seconded by Mr K Gowans, moved as an AMENDMENT that the Council should recognise the Scottish Government proposals for a licensing scheme for short term holiday lets and encourage communities to make their representations through the appropriate channels.  
 
On a vote being taken, the MOTION received 20 votes and the AMENDMENT received 18 votes, with 5 abstentions, and the MOTION was therefore 
CARRIED, the votes having been cast as follows:-  
 
For the Motion:  
Mr G Adam, Mr C Aitken, Mrs J Barclay, Mr J Bruce, Mr A Christie, Mr D 
Fraser, Mr A Graham, Mr T Heggie, Mr A Jarvie, Mrs L MacDonald, Mr D 
Mackay, Mr W Mackay, Mrs I MacKenzie, Mr S Mackie, Mrs A MacLean, Mr D Macpherson, Mrs B McAllister, Mr D Rixson, Mr A Sinclair and Ms J Tilt.  
 
For the Amendment:  
Mr B Allan, Mr R Balfour, Mr B Boyd, Mrs M Cockburn, Dr I Cockburn, Mr M 
Finlayson, Mr C Fraser, Mr L Fraser, Mr K Gowans, Mr J Gray, Ms E Knox, Mr B Lobban, Mr A MacInnes, Mr G Mackenzie, Mr A Mackinnon, Mr C MacLeod, Mr M Reiss and Mr B Thompson.  
 
Abstentions:  
Miss J Campbell, Mrs M Davidson, Mr J Finlayson, Mr H Morrison and Mrs P Munro.  
 
Decision  
 
The Council AGREED the terms of the Notice of Motion as detailed. 
 

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