Blanket rules on letting unwise
With the Scottish Parliament now in recess for the summer, I have been spending time out and about on a number of visits and attending local events such as the Perth Show at the weekend.
I also had a very interesting day with the police in Perth, seeing all aspects of their work, and getting a better understanding of the issues they face on a daily basis.
I will also be commencing my summer surgery tour over the next few weeks. I hold surgeries throughout the year in my local office in Scone, but over the summer I am able to get out and about and visit more communities. Please contact my office if you wish to make an appointment.
We are now at the height of the tourist season and it is good to see local businesses busy with visitors from across the UK and further afield.
Tourism is a very important part of our economy here in Perth and Kinross. We have had some good years recently, with the relatively low value of the pound helping attract visitors from Europe and beyond.
Perth and Kinross is one area which has always benefited from a good tourist infrastructure, with quality hotels, eating establishments, and a range of self-catering accommodation.
I know there are many local individuals and businesses that offer self-catering cottages, and without the availability of these there simply would not be enough places for visitors to stay and our economy would suffer as a result.
I am also aware there are issues in other parts of the country, for example in the centre of Edinburgh, about the growth in short term lets through companies such as Airbnb.
There are real concerns that in the centre of the capital, the price of property is being forced too high, making it unaffordable for local workers to find accommodation due to the number of flats being purchased by investors to rent out on a short-term basis.
This also creates social issues within blocks of flats, where, instead of a settled population, there are people coming and going at all different times who perhaps do not have the same care for their neighbours.
It is against this backdrop that the Scottish Government recently consulted on changes in the law to short-term letting, looking at whether this could be better regulated, or whether the tax rules should be changed.
Whilst I do not think this is unreasonable, I think we need to be very careful that we are not trying to solve a problem that affects the centre of Edinburgh by imposing blanket rules on the rest of the country.
We should not be discouraging the creation of new self-catering accommodation in areas such as this, when that is so vital to our economy. I shall be keeping a very close eye on what comes forward from the Scottish Government in terms of regulation of this sector. It would be very unwise to kill the goose that lays the golden egg.
• Murdo Fraser always welcomes feedback from constituents. He can be contacted at The Control Tower, Perth Airport, Scone, PH2 6PL, by email on murdo. fraser.msp@parliament.scot or by phone on 01738 553676. Investors are snapping up homes to rent them on a short-term basis