Short-Term Lets Stakeholder Working Group

Overview

Overview

The purpose of this working group is to assist the Scottish Government to finalise guidance on the short-term lets licensing scheme and planning control areas, ahead of implementation of licensing schemes from October 2022

Developing the guidance

The working group is providing valuable input to the process of developing guidance that is comprehensive, helpful and easy to understand for those who will be administering schemes within local authorities, and for applicants and operators of short-term lets.

Members of the group are using their knowledge and experience to provide both broad steers on the scope and style of the guidance as well as specific advice and assistance on the drafting of the guidance.

The Scottish Government chairs and provides secretariat support to the working group.  Scottish Government officials will make every effort to find appropriate solutions to issues identified by stakeholders.  Ownership of the guidance documents rests with the Scottish Government and the final decisions on the guidance and any changes to legislation rest with the Scottish Ministers.

Resident and community engagement

The working group is principally comprised of industry and local authority representatives to get the guidance aimed at hosts and operators and local authorities right. This will help them navigate the planning and licensing processes. There are many aspects of the process that will be important to work through in detail with industry and local authority representatives that are not directly relevant to resident and community groups.

However, we know that certain parts of the process will be important to residents and communities, such as how to object to a planning or licensing application and how to raise issues around licensed (or unlicensed) properties.  

We held two identical meetings on 9 March 2021 and 11 March 2021 with residents and community groups.  Further meetings were held on 20 May 2021 and on 5 August 2021.

Residents or community groups who wish to be kept informed about future meetings should email: shorttermlets@gov.scot

Working group meetings

The first meeting of the stakeholder working group was held on 18 February 2021; the second meeting on 17 March 2021; the third meeting on 13 May 2021; and the  fourth meeting on 4 August 2021.  No further meetings have been scheduled at present.  Working group papers and minutes of meetings are listed under the Documents section on this page.

Members

• Anita Stewart, Scottish Government (Chair)

• Tony Cain, Association of Local Authority Housing Officers (ALACHO)
• James Foice, Association of Serviced Apartment Providers
• Sarah Farnham, for Booking.com (Ketchum)
• Ryan Pearson, Booking.com
• Chris McKee, City of Edinburgh Council
• Ailsa Raeburn, Community Land Scotland*
• Mike Callaghan, COSLA
• Wayne Mackay, Electrical Safety First
• Jean-Philippe Monod, Expedia
• Barry McCulloch, Federation of Small Businesses
• Jo Millar, Gilson Gray
• David Littlejohn (Perth and Kinross Council), Heads of Planning Scotland
• Alastair McKie, Law Society of Scotland
• Hazel Stevenson (Aberdeen City Council), Local Authority Environmental Health Officers
• Kirsten Henderson, PLACE*
• Claire MacKenzie, Police Scotland
• Deborah Heather, Quality in Tourism
• Professor Russel Griggs, Independent Chair of the Scottish Government Regulatory Review Group
• Chris Getty, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service
• James Clark, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service
• Simon Ovenden, Scottish Land & Estates
• Marc Crothall, Scottish Tourism Alliance
• Gary Munro (Fife Council), Scottish Local Authority Lawyers and Administrators (SOLAR)
• Kimberley Langley (Fife Council), Scottish Local Authority Lawyers and Administrators (SOLAR)
• Leon Thompson, UK Hospitality
• Patrick O’Shaughnessy, Visit Scotland

* PLACE and Community Land Scotland joined the working group to represent urban and rural residents’ interests and first attended at the third meeting, on 13 May 2021.

The following were members of the working group until they resigned at the meeting on 4 August 2022:

• Marie Lorimer, Airbnb
• Fiona Campbell, Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers
• Shomik Panda, UK Short-Term Accommodation Association
• David Weston, Scottish Bed & Breakfast Association

All members (including those who resigned in August last year) were invited to attend the 5th meeting on 2 February 2022 in order to provide input to revise the licensing guidance to reflect the Licensing Order approved by the Scottish Parliament in January 2022.

Membership will be kept under review.

Publications

Short-term Lets Stakeholder Working Group: updated terms of reference