The recent decision by the Scottish Government to approve the City of Edinburgh Council's application that the whole of the city be covered by a short-term let control area could damage the city’s attraction as a tourist destination, the trade body claims.
Earlier this year, the STAA wrote to the Cabinet Secretary for Housing, Shona Robison, to express its view that the Scottish Government 'should hold local authorities to a high standard of evidence before granting requests for control areas'.
The control area comes into being on 5 September, and was introduced, Edinburgh Council has said, to tackle rising rents and house prices in the city - much of which is exacerbated by the city's Fringe festival, which sees the city temporarily house thousands of performers and tourists.
The council say that currently, 10% of the city's private rental housing stock is on a short term basis, and that a 'displacement of demand' has seen rental prices rise disproportionately in areas where short term lets are concentrated. It also noted in its response to the Scottish Government's consultation on the scheme that it did not intend to create a 'barrier' to the market, but to introduce a 'robust means of regulation to reflect the growing commercialisation of the sector'.
Shomik Panda, director general of the STAA, said:
“This is a worrying move by the Scottish government. Not only do we not agree with this decision, but we are also concerned that it has been made without an explanation or presented evidence. We genuinely believe that this will have a negative impact on Edinburgh’s tourism economy and if rolled out to other areas of Scotland will further damage a valuable income stream as tourists will not have a large enough accommodation inventory to choose from and will end up going elsewhere. In the current economic climate, where many accommodation operators are still recovering from the impact of COVID restrictions and with the impending cost of living crisis looming, the timing couldn’t be worse. We urge the Scottish government to rethink its approach, otherwise we fear many businesses linked to tourism will not survive which will, ultimately, lose the Scottish government millions of pounds in lost taxation."
Of the introduction of the controls, Cllr James Dalgleish, Planning Convener said:
“It’s great news that from September 5 Edinburgh will officially become a short term lets control area.
“For far too long, too many homes have been lost to the holiday market pushing up house prices and rents in our Capital city. Around a third of all short term lets in Scotland are here in Edinburgh, so their associated issues of safety, anti-social behaviour and noise have a detrimental effect on many of our residents.
“I welcome the fact people are acting responsibly and submitting planning applications where they need them. The new legislation will now make it much clearer and easier for us to establish where planning permission is required.”
