No need for more legislation

Sir, – I read with interest that MSP Andy Wightman is pushing for planning consent to be a requirement for any homeowner wishing to use their property for short term holiday lets, such as Airbnb, rather than assured tenancies.

Might I suggest he instead focuses his efforts towards getting his parliamentary colleagues to review the Private Residential Tenancy introduced in December 2017 instead?

Whilst I agree that the old short assured tenancies had shortcomings, the PRT is too heavily weighted in favour of tenants.

With no time limit whatsoever and few if any effective means to repossess a property that is rightly owned by an individual should the need arise, is it any surprise that many landlords are deserting long term lets in favour of options such as Airbnb which return control to property owners?

Actions have consequences.

The poorly balanced PRT is surely a case in point.

The issue of the reduction in properties available for long term let since the turn of the year needs to be addressed at source within the existing legislation, not through the introduction of more.

Mike Cumming. Lour,

Forfar.

People are extremely happy to take advantage of ‘the right to roam’ but seem not to care about the ‘with responsibility’ part of the law