New short-term lets legislation will allow council to control number of Airbnbs in Edinburgh, says leader

New legislation on Airbnb-style accommodation will allow Edinburgh to control the number of short-term lets in the city, council leader Adam McVey has said.

New short-term lets legislation will allow council to control number of Airbnbs in Edinburgh, says leader. Pic Lisa Ferguson

The Scottish Government announced its plans for a new licensing scheme and control zones earlier this year after persistent lobbying from the council and others in the Capital.

In response to an official consultation, the council has broadly welcomed the proposals while seeking clarification on details.

The licensing scheme will be run by local authorities and certain conditions, such as safety standards, will be mandatory but councils will also have the power to introduce licensing conditions from a specified list of options to address local issues of concern.

And councils will have the power to introduce short-term let control areas, covering the whole or part of their area, where a change of use to whole-property lets would require planning permission.

The licensing system would not allow the number of short-term let properties to be controlled by imposing a cap or limit, but short-term lets control areas could be used to manage high concentration of such properties.

Cllr McVey said draft legislation was due to be considered in the Scottish Parliament next month with the new laws brought in next spring. “All of this progress has been in direct response to our hard work in pushing for the powers we know we need to deliver for our communities.

“We’re pleased that, through new short term let control areas we’ll be able to control the number of short term lets in the city as properties being let out in these areas would automatically require to have ‘change of use’ planning permission in place.

" It’s also good news that when people apply for a licence we can ask for evidence that they have that permission. This is something we’re very keen to do.”

The council will next identify an area or areas in the city for designation as a short-term lets control area and consider what extra conditions should be introduced for licences. The Scottish Government wants all local authorities to have a live licensing scheme open to receive applications by April 1, 2022.

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