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

2. Glossary of terms

2.1. In the consultation paper and this report, the following abbreviations in respect of legislation are used:

“the 1982 Act”
means the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982;

“the 1997 Act”
means the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997;

“the 2016 Act”
means the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016;

“the 2019 Act”
means the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019;

“the Control Area Regulations”
means the statutory instrument to be made under powers in section 26B of the 1997 Act (as inserted by section 17 of the 2019 Act);

“GPDO”
means the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Scotland) Order 1992;

“the Licensing Order”
means the statutory instrument to be made under powers in section 44 of the 1982 Act;

“UCO”
means the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) (Scotland) Order 1997 (SI 1997/3061).

2.2. The following definitions are used in respect of the actors in the system:

“accrediting organisation”
means an organisation promoting higher industry standards and best practice for the short-term lets sector, by offering advice or certification to hosts;

“actor”
means any one of the class of persons and organisations interacting with the Licensing Order and Control Area Regulations;

“channel manager”
means a person or organisation providing a service to a host which enables them to advertise and accept bookings through multiple platforms;

“Destination Management Organisations” (DMOs)
means an organisation providing commission-free marketing of accommodation by pointing to the host’s website or booking system (i.e. they do not take bookings directly);

“guest”
means a person occupying accommodation for the purposes of a short-term let;

“holiday letting agency”
means an organisation which takes responsibility for all aspects of making accommodation available for short-term lets (marketing, bookings, queries, cleaning etc.), i.e. offering all the functions of a hosting intermediary combined with those of a platform;

“host” (or “licencee”)
means a person or company providing accommodation for short-term letting, including commercial landlords (note that the host may not be the owner or person who lives at the property^[2]);

“hosting intermediary”
means a person or company allowing hosts to outsource some or all of their functions in respect of services provided to guests during their stay;

“local authority”
has its usual meaning and, for the purposes of this consultation, they are the planning authorities and licensing authorities;

“neighbour”
means, for our purposes, someone whose permanent residence is in close enough proximity to a short-term let to have a legitimate interest in its business, e.g. potentially affected by safety, noise, litter, nuisance;

“platform” (sometimes known as Online Travel Agencies or OTAs)
means an online marketplace, advertising or brokering service, such as Airbnb, booking.com and others, allowing hosts to offer properties for short-term lets;

“trade association”
means a body representing the interests of some or all hosts, and possibly other actors as well.

2.3. Additionally, the following definitions will be used:

“2019 consultation paper”
means Short Term Lets: Consultation on a Regulatory Framework for Scotland, Scottish Government (April 2019)

“accommodation”
means the room, rooms or property let to the guest(s) as a short-term let;

“control area”
means a short-term let control area designated under section 26B of the 1997 Act;

“dwellinghouse”
means, for these purposes, an independent dwelling (with its own front door, kitchen and bathroom) such as a house, flat, cottage etc.^[3];

“PDR”
means permitted development rights under the GPDO;

“HMO”
means a house in multiple occupation, being a property rented out by at least three (unrelated) people who share the bathroom or toilet and kitchen, and is the only or main residence of the people living there;

“home sharing”
means a type of short-term let involving the letting of a room or rooms where the host normally lives (i.e. their primary residence), with the host in residence^[4];

“home letting”
means a type of short-term let involving the letting of a room or rooms or the entire property where the host normally lives (i.e. their primary residence), when the host is absent (frequently this is when the host is on holiday or away on business, for example)^[5];

“secondary letting”
means a type of short-term let involving the letting of a room or rooms or the entire property, where the host does not normally live;

“short-term let”
is as proposed in this consultation paper (see chapter 4);