Short-term lets: consultation

5. Responding to the Consultation

We are inviting responses to this consultation by Friday 19 July 2019.

Please respond to this consultation using the Scottish Government's consultation hub, Citizen Space (http://consult.gov.scot). Access and respond to this consultation online at https://consult.gov.scot/housing-services-policy-unit/short-term-lets. You can save and return to your responses while the consultation is still open. Please ensure that consultation responses are submitted before the closing date of 19 July 2019.

If you are unable to respond using our online consultation hub, please complete the Respondent Information Form and send it:

by email to: shorttermlets@gov.scot

or by post to:

Short-Term Lets Team
Scottish Government
2J North
Victoria Quay
Edinburgh, EH6 6QQ

Questions are raised throughout this consultation but they can all be found and answered in the questionnaire below.

Handling your response

Please indicate how you wish your response to be handled and, in particular, whether you are content for your response to published. If you ask for your response not to be published, we will regard it as confidential, and we will treat it accordingly.

All respondents should be aware that the Scottish Government is subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and would therefore have to consider any request made to it under the Act for information relating to responses made to this consultation exercise.

To find out how we handle your personal data, please see our privacy policy: /privacy/

Next steps in the process

Where respondents have given permission for their response to be made public, and after we have checked that they contain no potentially defamatory material, responses will be made available to the public at http://consult.gov.scot. If you use the consultation hub to respond, you will receive a copy of your response via email.

Following the closing date, all responses will be analysed and considered along with any other available evidence to help us. Responses will be published where we have been given permission to do so. An analysis report will also be made available.

Comments and complaints

If you have any comments about how this consultation exercise has been conducted, please send them to the contact address above or at shorttermlets@gov.scot

Scottish Government consultation process

Consultation is an essential part of the policymaking process. It gives us the opportunity to consider your opinion and expertise on a proposed area of work.

You can find all our consultations online: http://consult.gov.scot. Each consultation details the issues under consideration, as well as a way for you to give us your views, either online, by email or by post.

Responses will be analysed and used as part of the decision making process, along with a range of other available information and evidence. We will publish a report of this analysis for every consultation. Depending on the nature of the consultation exercise the responses received may:

• indicate the need for policy development or review
• inform the development of a particular policy
• help decisions to be made between alternative policy proposals
• be used to finalise legislation before it is implemented

While details of particular circumstances described in a response to a consultation exercise may usefully inform the policy process, consultation exercises cannot address individual concerns and comments, which should be directed to the relevant public body.

Consultation Questions

This paper invites responses to questions on a range of issues which the Scottish Government will take into account when considering proposals for regulation. Respondents should take into consideration the information provided in this consultation paper and its accompanying Annexes alongside any other knowledge or personal experiences that could be relevant. All opinions are welcome.

We ask that you try to answer all the questions in each section. However, if you are unable to answer any question then please feel free to move on to the next question.

There is a comments box below each question to allows you to set out your reasoning and to provide general comments.

Question 1 Are you aware of any additional data on the impacts of short-term lets (over and above that set out in Annex A - The Short-Term Rental Sector, Housing and Tourism in Scotland) which the Scottish Government should take into account when considering proposals for regulation?

Question 2 Should a regulatory framework distinguish between sharing, swapping and secondary letting?

Question 3 Should the rules be capable of being different depending on the type of accommodation? For example, to distinguish between tenement flats and detached houses.

Question 4 Do you have any comments on any other aspect of the definition of short-term lets?

Question 5 Do you have any comments on the positive or negative impacts of short-term lets?

Question 6 Do you have any examples of other positive or negative impacts of short-term lets?

Question 7 Do you have any comments about the impact of short-term lets on the housing market?

Question 8 Do you have any comments on the restrictions imposed on short-term lets by planning law?

Question 9 Do you have any comments on powers to tackle antisocial behaviour caused by short-term lets?

Question 10 Do you have any comments about complaint systems for short-term lets?

Question 11 Do you have any comments on safety issues related to short-term lets?

Question 12 Do you have any comments on eligibility for non-domestic rates?

Question 13 Do you have any comments on the additional eligibility requirements recommended by the Barclay Review?

Question 14 Do you have any comments on the eligibility of self-catering accommodation for the Small Business Bonus Scheme?

Question 15 Do you have any other comments on taxation relating to short-term lets?

Question 16 Do you have any additions or amendments to the proposed design principles?

Question 17 Do you have any comments on the proposed scope of a regulatory framework?

Question 18 Do you have any comments on the controls or conditions which councils should be able to set through a registration or licensing regime?

Question 19 Do you have any comments on whether a licensing scheme and/or market-based approach, and any associated charges, should apply to all types of short-term lets and whether conditions and/or charges should vary according to the type of property, its location or the number of rooms?

Question 20 Do you have any comments on the effectiveness of a days per year limit in meeting the Scottish Government's objectives?

Question 21 Do you have any comments on how regulations should deal with commercial hosts?

Question 22 Do you have any comments on who should be subject to enforcement and sanctions?

Question 23 Do you have any other comments on short-term lets not covered in your answers to the above?

More about you (optional)

Q1: Which of the following best describes you. Please choose all that apply:

• Affected resident
• Community organisation
• Guest
• Host with one property
• Host with more than one property
• Platform
• Hosting intermediary
• Hotel or B&B owner
• Other business, please state
• Other, please state

Q2: How did you hear about the consultation? Please choose all that apply:

• Online at gov.scot or Citizen Space
• Press coverage (local or national)
• Referred by Local Authority/Government/MSP/Councillor
• Referred by short-term letting host
• Referred by short-term letting platform
• Other, please state

If you are a host, please answer the following questions.

Q3: Which of the following describes your short-term letting listing(s)? Please choose all that apply.

• Couch or spare bed in shared room
• Spare room
• Entire property, when on holiday only
• Entire property
• Multiple properties

Q4: Do you list your room/property/properties on more than one platform?

• Yes
• No

Q5: How many properties did you have available for short-term letting in 2018?

Q6: Approximately how many nights was/were your listing(s) occupied in 2018?

Q7: For hosts with more than one property, do you have properties in more than one local authority area in Scotland?

• Yes
• No