Short-term lets - licensing scheme and planning control areas: consultation

7. Responding to the Consultation

We are inviting responses to this consultation by Friday 16 October 2020.

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-licensing-scheme/. 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 16 October 2020.

Unfortunately, we are not able to consider responses by e-mail or by post. We will not be able to consider late responses.

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 If you ask for your response not to be published, we will regard it as confidential, and we will treat it accordingly.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 Response Form

This consultation paper sets out the Scottish Government’s proposals for the definition of short-term lets, the establishment of control areas under the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 and the establishment of a licensing scheme under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982. The review of tax treatment is being progressed separately and is outside the scope of this consultation.

The purpose of this consultation is to help the Scottish Government ensure that the legislation laid at the Scottish Parliament in December is as efficient and effective as possible. We are only seeking comments which will help us in getting the details right. We are not consulting on whether to implement a licensing scheme or control areas nor the broad framework of the approach.

We are not asking specific questions. We are interested in any issues you have identified with our proposals and how they might be resolved. Please be as brief as you can and refer back to the relevant paragraph number(s) in the consultation paper.

Chapter 4. Definition

Issues and how to resolve them:

Chapter 5. Control Area Regulations

Issues and how to resolve them:

Chapter 6. Licensing Order

Issues and how to resolve them:

More about you (optional)

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

• Accrediting organisation
• Guest
• Host
• Hosting intermediary
• Letting agency or destination management organisation
• Local authority or other public sector organisation
• Other hospitality (e.g. hotel or B&B owner)
• Neighbour (affected resident) or community group
• Platform
• Regulatory body
• Trade association
• 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 TV, radio, social or print media)
• Referred by local authority / government / MSP / councillor
• Referred by host
• Referred by platform
• Other, please state

Respondent Information Form

The Respondent Information Form and Consultation Questionnaire are available in the supporting files of this publication.