Short lets to be ‘banned’ from city claim landlord reps

A crackdown on Airbnbs and other short lets in the Scottish capital, Edinburgh, has infuriated landlord’s’ representatives.

In line with the rest of Scotland, short lets in Edinburgh already have to be registered with further short lets requiring planning permission.

Now proposals in the council’s 10 year development plan would in effect allow the authority to refuse any short term lets anywhere in the city.

Scottish media reports suggest that around 50 ‘angry’ landlords turned up to a recent council meeting to claim Edinburgh’s tourism industry would collapse without them.

Edinburgh - which has an estimated 10,000 short lets - is already Scotland’s first holiday let ‘control zone’ requiring any short let that isn’t an owner’s principal home to have planning permission - although this does not apply to those in use as this kind of accommodation for over 10 years. In addition, a new short lets register comes into effect in April.

The new 10 year plan, if approved, will not come into effect until 2024.

The critical paragraph in it - which presumes all planning decisions will fall in favour of long-term residential housing unless stated otherwise - reads: “Edinburgh has experienced a steep rise in the number of properties being used for short-term letting, impacting on the availability of homes for traditional housing need. To balance the quality of life of our residents with the demands of visitors to the city and reduce the amount of homes being lost to other uses, there is a presumption against loss of housing.”