Short Term Lets In Highland to Require A Licence To Operate At A Cost Of Between £300 to £600
24th June 2022
Business operating in the short term letting market may think this is the worst time to add more cost to running what for many is a small business.
The Highland Council has set in motion the plans required by the Scottish government to control who can an cannot operate in the region.
The new rules will apply to all Bed and Breakfasts, guest houses, self-catering properties including Air B & B and even glamping pods and yurts.
The charges will be another hit on hard pressed businesses at between £300 and £600. The application that are estimated to be around 10,000 business will also be referred to police, fire, environmental health and planning officers. The public will also be allowed to object if they have valid reason to the applications.
This new legislation was said to be the biggest change in licencing for many years.
HC is accepting applications from 1 October. They must have applied by 1 April 2023 and be licences by 1 July 2024.
For existing short-term lets, the licence deadline is 1 April 2023.
The Scottish Parliament added the new law under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 on 19 January 2022. It applies to all Scottish councils.
Possibly it could be argued a victim of unintended consequences of pressure from many sources over the fast expanding Air B and B properties in many places depriving local people of houses making rents more expensive and pushing up property prices in rural areas.
It remains to be seen how it will affect the operators short term lets once the look at the additional costs.
See the full paper discussed at the licensing committee
Webcast
A webcast of the meeting can be seen HERE
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