Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) (Amendment) Order 2024: business and regulatory impact assessment

11. Enforcement, Sanctions and Monitoring

There is no significant change to our assessment of enforcement, sanctions and monitoring in relation to the changes made in the 2024 Amendment Order. Local authorities are now responsible for considering applications, variations, monitoring compliance and for enforcement. The monitoring and enforcement costs to local authorities can be included within renewal (or monitoring) fees and offset, at least in part, through some fees for visits to premises.

Scottish Government guidance encourages a proportionate, risk based approach to monitoring and enforcement by licensing authorities. The 1982 Act sets out offences, including operating a short-term let without a licence. Offences also include non-compliance with the conditions of a licence and unauthorised changes to a premises. It is also an offence to make a false statement in an application and this would also apply to renewal applications. These attract fines on the standard scale. Further details of sanctions are available in the 2021 BRIA, and remain current.