Edinburgh to clamp down on Airbnb lets

Hosts must seek planning permission after increase in anti-social behaviour and city’s house prices

EDINBURGH will force hosts of shortterm lets such as Airbnbs to apply for planning permission in an effort to tackle anti-social behaviour and housing shortages.

Councillors yesterday voted to approve proposals to push ahead with a scheme, which would mean landlords would be forced to seek Town Hall approval to continue to list homes for short-term rental. It would become the first city in the UK to enforce such rules.

Around a third of Airbnbs in Scotland are in Edinburgh, and there is concern that a rapid rise in properties being turned into holiday rentals has caused house prices to rise.

The move was welcomed by campaigners, who had claimed city centre communities have been “hollowed out” by a proliferation in short-term rentals.

However, landlords claimed they were being made scapegoats for ministerial failings in housing policy.

The plans were condemned as “wholly disproportionate” by the Association of Scotland’s Self-caterers, which said claims around the damage caused by the lets were not backed up by evidence.

“Self-catering properties have been a long-standing presence in the capital for decades, enhancing the tourist offering and boosting the local economy, and should not be used as a convenient scapegoat for policy failures elsewhere,” Fiona Campbell, its chief executive, claimed.

“Communities are being hoodwinked into believing that regulating short-term lets out of existence will act as a panacea when, in reality, we have failed to build enough affordable homes or bring large numbers of empty properties back into use.

“Last year, self-catering generated £50m for Edinburgh’s economy.”

The popularity of Airbnb and other listing sites has also been blamed for problems in areas such as the Lake District, the Highlands and parts of London.

However, Edinburgh’s status as an all-year-round tourist destination, as well as events such as the Fringe and world-famous Hogmanay party, which allow landlords to charge a premium, has meant it is particularly attractive for rentals.

MSPS at Holyrood were told in 2017 that residents in the historic Old Town were being forced to tolerate noise from “very audible sex parties” coming from a short-term let in a flat above. Many more properties had become “party flats” popular for stag and hen weekends, it was claimed.

A consultation is set to be launched into the plan, before Edinburgh Council would seek approval from the SNP Government to designate the entire city a “short-term let control area”.

Hosts would be forced to apply to the council for a “change of use” to continue to rent out homes, with the potential for applications to be rejected. Only those who had run lets for a decade or more, without action being taken by authorities, would be exempt. The scheme would only apply to those who rent out entire properties, not spare rooms.

Other cities to attempt to take action against Airbnbs include Los Angeles, Barcelona and Tokyo.

David Givan, Edinburgh’s chief planning officer, told councillors it was necessary to apply the policy to the whole of Edinburgh to prevent displacement of short-term lets into other parts of the city. A final proposal will be drawn up after the six-week consultation.

“This is so important, as short-term lets have reduced the city’s housing stock, hollowed out communities and caused numerous issues for residents such as noise and other anti-social behaviour,” said Maureen Child, viceconvenor of the council’s planning committee.