Hot Air and AirBnBs

 I was mildly amused but not surprised when I read that Tory MSP Miles Briggs was calling for the licencing of short term lets to be paused. If anything epitomises the free market it is short term lets. Property owners are encouraged to maximise the profit they can make from the homes they own by exploiting the short term let market. In Edinburgh it has seen the private rental market hollowed out as property owning landlords move from long term rentals to workers, families, students, elderly and the unemployed to the short term let market. The knock-on effect is higher rents in what remains of the private rental sector, more pressure on the socially rented sector, council and housing association waiting lists, and a loss of community especially in shared stair tenements and modern flats. 

Miles Briggs MSP make the case that the businesses that run short term lets are still recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic and now have the cost-of-living crisis to contend with. He argues that this new licencing scheme will add costs. 

Aside from effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the market is that really true? If these small businesses are renting out what are actually homes shouldn't the owners already be registered as landlords? If the property was previously a long-term private rental, shouldn't it be up to safety standards? Indeed, if the property was rented to a shared group of people previously shouldn't it already have a Houses in Multiple Occupancy (HMO) licence? 

The new legislation to regulate and control Short Term Lets (STLs) is designed to make sure properties have standards akin to HMOs which have been regulated for nearly two decades. There is also the requirement to apply for 'change of use' permission under the planning system as the property is being taken out of use as a home to become a, no doubt, lovely 5-star TripAdvisor apartment for transient visitors. Property is a responsibility and not merely an investment to be maximised. Unfortunately for some housing is now unobtainable to rent or to buy in the overheated property market and the drive to short term lets has helped fuel that overheating. It is no surprise that Edinburgh is also looking to introduce rent controls (a common tool in other countries but an anathema to free marketeers).  

The legislation to regulate short term lets has been lobbied for by local politicians and local authorities like Edinburgh for too long while communities have suffered. The legislation has been passed and it is now time to put it into practice. Enough hot air.