The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Shake-up of short-term letting rules
The year started with great positivity for the rural short-term letting sector, with huge interest in the agritourism monitor farms, launched last year, driving growth.
Then fast forward to the first lockdown in April, the response as ever was swift and positive.
Go Rural’s live-streamed “l a m b a t h o n” in April allowed thousands of global viewers to tune in to watch lambs, sheepdogs and cows on farms.
This showcased huge diversity and grew to cover all sorts of enterprises including wa l k s wi t h alpacas and live calving.
From glamping and farm shops to holiday lets and camping sites, for years farmers and rural business owners having been implementing new ways to generate additional income streams.
If you operate a selfcatering business or holiday let that’s available for 140 days or more a year and actually let for 70 days or more, you may be liable to pay business rates.
You may also be liable if you run a guest house or a significant bed and breakfast operation for more than six people at any one time, regardless of how many days your house or rooms are available.
There’s change afoot, too, for short-term lets with the Planning ( Scotland) Act 2019 amending the Town and Countr y Planning (Scotland) Act 1997.
Launch ing the consultation in September, Scottish Government housing minister Kevin Stewart said short-term le ts offer flexible and affordable accommodation and have positively contributed to the tourism industry.
He added though, in certain areas, they can lead to problems.
Section 17 added to the 1997 Act allows a planning authority to designate all or part of its area as a shortterm let control area.
In these areas, using a residential house for short-term lets would be a material change of use and would need planning permission.
A sub-section provides the planning authority can vary or cancel a designation as a short- term letting control area.
The agritourism sector has criticised the move as heaping pressure on the already-beleaguered tourism industry.
Time will tell if this regulation is a step too far for this burgeoning sector and whether further planning considerations will ultimately put entrepreneurs off.
The consultation is now closed and, with this secondary legislation due to be introduced in April next year, we’ll need to wait and see how things develop.