800 Fife applications in countdown to new controversial short term let licences

As of October 1, all guest houses, Bed&Breakfasts (B&Bs), AirBnBs, and self-catering accommodation owners must apply for a new Short Term Let Licence (SLT) - or face consequences.

The Scottish Government put the new scheme in place last year to “ensure basic safety standards are in place across all short-term lets operating in Scotland, while also providing discretionary powers to licensing authorities to address the needs and concerns of local communities.”

But, it has faced harsh criticism and mixed reviews from hosts, politicians and community members throughout the country - including Fife wher the local authority has received nearly 800 applications ahead of the deadline, but still doesn’t know how many STLs there are in the Kingdom.

A spokesperson said: “We have yet to fully appreciate the number of applications that will be made to the council and where the applications are from across Fife. Early evidence confirms that there are particular concentrations in St. Andrews and in the East Neuk of Fife.”

“In these areas, the prevalence of STLs will restrict the alternative housing options for people looking to buy properties or rent privately. The council aims to widen housing options in all areas of Fife to enable access to affordable housing.”

The scheme came in for criticism from David Weston, chairman of both the Scottish and UK B&B Associations, who said it would wreak havoc on Scotland - and Fife’s - tourism industry by driving hosts out of business.

“We think it's going to hit Scottish tourism quite considerably. There will be a loss of tourist accommodation and the ones that remain will put up their prices. We think it’s a mistake all around,” Mr Weston said.

“This should have been to do with the health and safety of tourist accommodation, but it's become tied up with things like affordable local housing issues. B&Bs have got caught up with it when they weren’t the original issue.”

He continued: “The original core issue was properties on AirBnB in places like Edinburgh in residential blocks and the nuisances from that. That was the core issue that gave rise to all of this, but it has ended up hitting small rural B&Bs which never caused any of those issues and don’t affect housing availability or affordability in any way at all.”

Politicians also had their say. Councillor Altany Craik (Labour for Glenrothes West and Kinglassie) doesn't believe the scheme will accomplish what it sets out to do.

“The aims are laudable - it’s trying to get everyone onto a level playing field and a level of quality assurance about what’s on offer. Unfortunately this scheme doesn’t really deliver that,” he said.

“It creates a bureaucratic problem for people who are long established businesses, and I don’t think it will address the key issues it was trying to address - which was AirBnB and anti-social behaviour in cities like Edinburgh and Glasgow.”

He continued: “It’s another level of accreditation which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it really has to be proportionate and it has to deliver the improvements which we would all want to see with short term lets and in our tourism infrastructure for Fife. I don’t think it does that. It is probably more of an inhibitor than any help.”

Judy Hamilton (Labour), Fife's spokesperson for housing and building services, was more ambivalent about the scheme.

“I never think there’s anything wrong with driving up standards if that’s what it does, but it’s a new scheme and it stands to be proven yet,” she said. “The pros are that it drives up standards. It gives a quality assurance to customers. The cons are that it can be burdensome,” she said.

The scheme:

Cllr Craik said the scheme essentially aims to be a “quality assurance framework for short term lets.”

It will require AirBnB properties and other short term lets to provide health and safety documentation such as electrical inspections, gas safety certifications and more. Traditional accommodation businesses often already comply with health and safety requirements , and those hosts generally agree they need to level the playing field of regulation.

“Apart from endangering the public it's also unfair competition for B&Bs because they invest a lot of money in fire doors, gas safety and all the rest. But if someone next door can just open their spare room and not comply with any fire regulations at all then it's unfair competition,” Mr Weston said.

However, he called the current scheme bureaucratic and "onerous."

"Unfortunately they’ve lumped in too many other issues with this," he said. “Additionally, people can’t buy and sell anymore because you can’t transfer a licence from one person to another. It’s stopped funding for businesses. Banks won’t lend to people unless they’re sure they can trade and if you haven't got a licence you can’t trade so until you’ve got your licence it's very difficult to get funding."

Conclusion:

There is plenty of debate about the type of impact the short term licence scheme will have on Fife's tourism industry, but there’s no doubt that there will be changes after October 1.

Cllr Craik said the scheme has created a lot of heat and anxiety for many of Fife’s established businesses. He said there’s been a bit of concern about additional costs and the fact that people who are “most likely to be problematic probably won’t get a licence anyway and they’ll fly under the radar.”

“The bigger concern for me is will the scheme have unintended consequences - will it mean a reduction in lets available as people exit that market place saying ‘it’s more difficult than it needs to be, I’ll go and do something else’,” he said.

“It will feel very different [after October 1]. I think we are going to have to wait and see what it looks like as we come out the other side of this.”