Chamber and committees

At the heart of the regulations is a set of basic safety standards. I hope that we agree that all premises should comply with that set of basic safety standards. As you said, some are already doing so, and if others are not, they should be. That would create a level playing field to ensure the safety of those using those properties, which is at the heart of the measures.

Murdo Fraser then talked about bed and breakfasts. As I said, the set of mandatory standards, which will help to protect the safety of guests, should apply to the whole self-catering sector. Many bed and breakfast hosts will already be following the standards as a matter of compliance with existing law or best practice; therefore, we do not consider the standards to be onerous.

B and Bs have been included from the beginning, and one of the important reasons why is that, if they were not included, a number of premises would potentially be relabelled as B and Bs in order to avoid licensing. That concern was expressed during the consultation. It would be very difficult to define B and Bs in order to differentiate them from other types of provision. Therefore, we took the view to leave B and Bs in the scope of the licensing proposals. The relabelling issue would have been a considerable concern should they have been excluded.

The principle is cost recovery only; local authorities cannot go beyond that. The guidance will set out in more detail what we think is important to make sure that local authorities are following that principle. We want the scheme to be proportionate, not onerous. The guidance will be clear on that.

Yes, that issue affects a small part of the sector. In the main, the sector is law abiding and provides good and safe premises for people to use. I want to put that on the record.

Undoubtedly, there is some criminality. The evidence that was given by Nicola Robison shows the importance of having the fit and proper person test as part of the licensing scheme. That is critical because Police Scotland would be able to flag up any concerns about someone not being a fit and proper person. That could be used by the local authority in deciding whether to grant a licence. There is a small element of criminality, but that is not something that we can ignore.

No, I do not think that they are well founded. Let me say a couple of things. Where a licensing authority fails to determine an application on time, the application is deemed to be granted for a period of one year. A licensing authority cannot kick a licence application into the long grass, if that was the concern. Existing hosts and operators who apply before 1 April 2023 can continue to operate while their licence application is processed. I do not accept there is any issue of a de facto ban.

The processes are probably quite different in Dublin. Applications here will be deemed to be granted for a period of one year. There is nothing to be gained by delaying an application. Local authorities will want to be swift and efficient in dealing with licensing applications.

A basket of measures would come together in the licensing scheme. As Rachel Nicholson just outlined, a self-regulated registration scheme would not require people to comply with the measures in the same way. The powers that we will give to local authorities, which go beyond the core elements of the licensing scheme, are also important. The licensing scheme strikes the right balance in ensuring that where practice does not adhere to basic safety standards or there is potentially criminal behaviour—people behaving at that extreme end of the scale—a proportionate response can be deployed. I do not believe that such situations could be dealt with in the same way under a self-regulated registration scheme.

All in all, it is a proportionate and balanced approach. I have met people from the sector who think otherwise. We have tried to work with them to compromise in relation to some of their concerns; we have done that on many of their concerns. What we have landed is a proportionate and balanced approach.

As I have said, the basket of measures should be seen as proportionate in responding to the very real issues that have been raised by communities. I guess you could turn that on its head and ask the sector why, if all those things are things that it wants, it opposes the licensing scheme? What is it about the licensing scheme that it is so opposed to, if a registration scheme would do exactly the same thing?

I suggest that the registration scheme was not going to do exactly the same thing; that we need local authorities to have powers to refuse a licence, if someone is not operating in a way that is safe or responsible; and that authorities should be able to use their additional powers to deal with the very real issues that residents and communities have raised. I believe that a licensing scheme would do that in a way that a registration scheme would not.

On your first point about the ability to refuse a licence, you are right in one sense; the vast majority of people in the sector are law abiding and good providers. I absolutely agree that they provide a very important element of the tourism economy.

Is it not right, however, that people who do not abide by the law and are not providing safe spaces where people can stay should be refused a licence? Why should they be able to operate when another person down the road is doing everything that they can do to ensure that their short-term-let property is a safe place? Why should the person who is not doing that not face consequences?

The ability to refuse a licence is important; that is an important difference between the licensing scheme and a registration scheme. In many ways, Fergus Ewing has made the point for me—it is the whole point—that when someone does not comply it is unfair and there is no level playing field, so they should have a licence refused. However, people who abide by the rules have nothing to fear from the licensing system.

As Fergus Ewing will know, “Practical Fire Safety Guidance for Existing Premises with Sleeping Accommodation” was published in June 2018. Part 3 of the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations 2006 set out fire safety duties in respect of the majority of non-domestic premises in Scotland. Obviously, not all short-term lets are businesses, so it is important that we have a mandatory licence condition that gives protection to people who use any type of short-term let. The licensing order puts in place some basic requirements for safety measures for all short-term lets. Andrew Mott or Rachel Nicholson might want to come in on that. Perhaps Rachel will offer the legal point of view.

I do not think that that will be the case. Over the past few months, with the level of staycations that there has been, the self-catering sector has been quite buoyant. We will keep an eye on that, as we are in a tricky situation at the moment. However, given the guidance that I talked about earlier and given the way in which the scheme would work in practice, the sector really does not have anything to be concerned about. With regard to the concerns that people will leave the sector en masse, I do not believe that that would happen.

It is also important to note that we have made considerable changes to the proposals to respond to concerns from the sector. For example, we have removed the minimum energy performance certificate requirements and the overprovision measures, and we have simplified many of the aspects that the sector raised concerns about. We have listened and tried to make the scheme as straightforward as possible. Once it is in operation, I think that operators and hosts will realise that, actually, any issues that they were concerned about have not come to pass.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you for inviting me to present the draft Relevant Adjustments to Common Parts (Disabled Persons) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2021 for your consideration.

If they are approved, the amended regulations will enable disabled people who live in housing with common areas, such as communal access or gardens, to make relevant adjustments to those areas with the agreement of the majority of owners and within clearly defined timescales for each part of the process. The legislation is the first of its kind in the UK.

On 21 February 2020, legislation came into effect that enabled disabled people to make adaptations to the common areas in a property with the consent of a majority of the owners, rather than the consent of all owners. Since the regulations came into force last year, feedback from stakeholders prompted us to revisit the regulations and amend them to include more structure around timescales for each stage of the process.

The amendment regulations that are presented today have specific timescales for each stage of the process, providing clarity for the owners and the disabled person. It is of primary importance that the regulations provide disabled people with a clear and workable method of securing the agreement of other owners to reasonable adjustments that are being made in common areas. Amending the principal regulations ensures that the legislation is aligned to our original policy intent that the disabled person can carry out adjustments to the common parts of a property in which they have an interest, provided that they make an application to all owners of the common parts and obtain the consent of a majority of those owners.

I am happy to answer questions on the instrument.