Unmasking the Capital’s holiday let super-landlords
Donald Turvill discovers the few who own majority of STLs
The holiday let boom has changed the face of the Capital’s tourism economy in the last 15 years – but in that time those behind their rise have remained largely a mystery.
That has all changed, thanks largely to a crackdown launched by City of Edinburgh Council, and backed by the Scottish Government, amid a rising housing crisis and concerns about the impact these holiday lets were having on the city.
And after a painstaking three-month investigation digging into the details on some of the city’s 4000 or so short term lets (STLs), the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) has uncovered a group of Edinburgh holiday let “super-landlords”.
Some property owners have seen profits soar after turning multiple homes into holiday flats and signing up to Airbnb and other booking platforms. It is a trend the sector argues has been essential to meet the city’s tourism growth – but critics say has destroyed communities vital to the Capital’s social fabric.
The search turned up a varied line-up, among it royalty and well-known business tycoons. In several cases, large property portfolios were owned through shell companies registered to tax havens and overseas countries. In all cases there is no suggestion any of those involved are acting improperly in owning or operating multiple short term lets in the city.
Identifying the super-landlords was far from easy. Unlike the much less lucrative long-term rental sector where landlords can be quickly found on an easily-accessible register, there has been no database listing those who have cashed in on the rise of short-term lets.
In 2022 the council introduced licensing and planning checks in response to concerns about the increasing number of holiday lets in the city centre, particularly in the Old Town – where it is now not uncommon to find tenement blocks where the majority of flats are STLs – and their impact on residents who still live there year-round.
A quick scroll through the 4,000 or so properties which appear on the council’s STL licensing register still revealed very little in the way of property ownership, however. The “applicant” column – intended to provide transparency and accountability – remains largely blank, with only a small handful listed. Thanks to the planning application process put in place as part of the council’s crackdown however, it has now been possible to link property owners with multiple homes.
Despite legal wranglings over the various new policies, information now publicly available on the council’s planning portal and Companies House has allowed the LDRS to cross reference properties from the licensing register to identify Edinburgh’s Airbnb super-landlords.
Prominent businessman Alasdair Dougall Locke, founder and chairman of the UK’s largest owner of petrol station forecourts, Motor Fuel Group, currently has 12 flats within the same block on the Royal Mile
It’s a very useful contribution to the tourist economy of Edinburgh
being used as STLs. Locke, one of Scotland’s richest men and co-founder of Glenrinnes Distillery, owns the city centre flats through Glenrinnes Farms Ltd.
He said: “It’s a very useful contribution to the tourist economy of Edinburgh; we wouldn’t be as full as we are if there wasn’t a demand. They spend a lot of money in restaurants, shops and tourist attractions around the city and that’s very good for the economy.”
The highest number of holiday lets under the ownership of one individual was 25, located all within the same block at Western Harbour in Newhaven operating as Ocean Serviced Apartments. Landlord James Adam has applied for a “certificate of lawfulness” for the apartments’ use as STLs for more than ten years, which if it can be proved through bookings means full planning permission is not required.
Investigations also reveal a member of the Royal Family of Kuwait as having 12 STLs on Torphichen Street in the West End. Suad Al Sabah, an 82-yearold economist and writer, has ownership through the dormant company Haaz Real Estate (Distillers House) which is registered to the Isle of Man – a UK tax haven where companies face no capital gains tax. The second richest family in the world, the Al Sabah dynasty has ruled Kuwait since 1756 and is estimated to be worth $360 billion.
Edinburgh’s Gold Brothers, who run a large number of souvenir and gift shops around the city centre, were found to have 13 holiday lets around the Old Town, including 10 within one block on the High Street which planning and licensing applications are under consideration for. The Singh Gold family’s STLs are held through Tron Kirk Residences and GB England Ltd.