The UK Short Term Accommodation Association (STAA) has warned that the recent decision by the Scottish Government to approve the City of Edinburgh Council’s application that the whole of the city be covered by a short-term let control area, despite the fact that, in some wards, short-term lets account for less than one percent of all housing stock, could damage the city’s attraction as a tourist destination. 

Earlier this year, the STAA wrote to the Cabinet Secretary for Housing, Shona Robison, to express its view that any short-term let control areas should be supported by robust evidence and that the Scottish Government should hold local authorities to a high standard of evidence before granting requests for control areas. 

The Scottish Government has not heeded this advice and, instead, simply waived through the application without evidencing any robust process to examine whether a control area is justified. The control area came into being on 5 September and the STAA believes that this could have dire consequences for Scotland’s tourism industry. 

Shomik Panda, director general of the STAA, said: “This is a worrying move by the Scottish government. Not only do we not agree with this decision, but we are also concerned that it has been made without an explanation or presented evidence.”