Drop in listings suggests STL crackdown working
City of Edinburgh Council said a drop in Airbnb listings in the Capital suggests its crackdown on short-term lets is working.
Officials noted there were around 3,350 fewer whole properties being offered for short-term letting on the booking site at the end of last year compared to 2019. The local authority has introduced new licensing and planning rules in a bid to “manage the number and location of STLs across the city”.
Planning convener James Dalgleish said the “end result” of these would be a “better sustained short-term let industry in the city” and “more homes are being made available to the public to rent or to buy”.
However the policies amount to a “de facto ban” on short-term lets in Edinburgh according to the trade body the Association of Scotland’s Self Caterers (ASSC), which says a “large degree of uncertainty” remains for existing operators around the need for planning permission.
A new report on the council’s approach to STL regulations states: “There were 14,000 AirBnB lets listed in 2019 in Edinburgh.
Of these, just over 8,000 were whole house lets. Using the same data, that figure has dropped to 7,000 overall listings in December 2023. Of those 7,000 properties, 4,648 were for entire homes/ apartments.
“1,544 of them were available for 90 or more days per year.
“The 1,544 figure is similar to the number of applications that have been granted planning permission or certificates of lawful use combined with the number of planning or certificate of lawful use applications that are yet to be determined. On 1 April 2024 this figure was 1,605.
“Overall, given that during the period between 2019 and December 2023, there has not been a post Covid rebound in numbers of STLs operating, this suggests that legislation and policy are having an effect in controlling overall numbers of STLs in Edinburgh.”
Cllr Dalgleish said: “I think it shows our policies are working and they are making a difference.
“The end outcome of those policies is that we’re going to have a better managed and better sustained short-term let industry in the city and again one of the end results is more homes are being made available to the public to rent or to buy.
“I know that will only have a relatively small effect on the housing crisis we have in the city. But for me it’s a clear signal that our policies are working and moving in the right direction.”
Officials said further analysis of data was required to fully assess the impact and this would be reported at a later date.
It states however this could spark “accusations of unfairness” from those who have already been refused permission to keep operating and recommends councillors not to adopt the policy. ASSC was contacted for comment.