Chamber and committees

We have been aware of some such applications being made. It comes back to the point about where things sit legally if people apply for licences when there is not anything there. The issue has been raised with us, and I will bring in Anita Stewart and Margaret Main to talk about the legal aspects.

I am trying to understand the question. I will bring Anita in.

Again, I will bring in Anita Stewart on the specifics. Enforcement was raised early in our discussions. It very much depends on what the actual issue is that requires enforcement. The subject was discussed with Police Scotland and I know that Anita Stewart has talked with local authorities about that and about what we need to do. Enforcement has not been widely abused or used at this particular time.

Issues very much depend on whether it is Edinburgh or the Highlands, for example. Again, the review will look at whether enforcement is a significant issue. I will bring in Anita Stewart, but I am aware that there have not been issues in any significant numbers. It will be very much down to where the local authority is, what the issue is and what we need to do to make sure that that is okay.

As you will probably know, there have been high numbers of applications in some areas, such as the Highlands, and there has been some anecdotal evidence about applications coming in very late in the process. We have been in discussions with individual local authorities on the general numbers, and we will also discuss with them where they are with complex cases. There are always discussions with SOLAR and individual local authorities when the level of applications is higher than we expected. There will be a degree of complexity with some cases, and such issues are discussed in our regular discussions with local authorities.

The key message to get across is that existing holders are still allowed to operate while a new application is considered, and it is in their interests to ensure that the correct information and everything else comes through as quickly as possible. If the person was an existing operator before the application was made, they can, of course, continue to operate during that time.

We have had discussions with local authorities that have had a much higher number of applications than was expected, which is obviously a good sign for the local authority.

I do not know whether Anita Stewart wants to add anything.

The vast majority of cases should be dealt with within that period. For complex cases that require various pieces of information, you would expect the local authority to take that into account in its timescales. The local authority should make an assessment at the start of the process, when an application is received. As Anita Stewart said, we have discussions with individual local authorities on those issues.

I have a few other statistics to mention. By the end of June, according to public registers and other information, 30,299 licensing applications had been made. The current figure is 34,285. There are local authorities that are still processing the data, so we expect that figure to be higher. The level of refusals—cases in which licences have not been granted—has been very low.

Broadly speaking, the number of applications that have been made is slightly ahead of what the estimates suggested prior to the inception of the licensing scheme.

We have touched on that, but I will clarify the position. A key issue that was raised when I was a member of this committee was on-going monitoring, which is really important. A general point to make is that there has been an on-going process of engagement, which is also really important. We have had a number of meetings with the ASSC, the STA, SOLAR, VisitScotland and the expert group, so that has almost built in informal monitoring. There have been numerous meetings and discussions.

The amendment order, which has been mentioned, demonstrated that we were listening, and we continue to do so. The expert group is very much about listening to the sector, and the implementation update included some responses. The expert group, which includes people who work in the sector, can make recommendations. That shows that we are willing to listen, and, as I said, I will write to the committee on what comes through.

Anita Stewart talked about the timescales. It is not a long period, but it is important that, as we move towards next summer, we think about whether we need to change anything as a result of what the expert group says. We will provide another implementation update in 2025.

It is important to say that it is an on-going process. We have demonstrated that we are listening. As you would expect with any Government, we have not agreed with every comment that has been made, but we have demonstrated that we continue to listen, including to the expert group.

As I said, we will come back to the committee with an update report and if there is anything else that we think we need to do. The expert group’s recommendations will be key, as it might want us to look at some things in more detail. We will consider what the report says and come back to the committee at that stage.

Thank you, convener. I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on this year’s short-term lets implementation update report and answer questions about the evidence that you have gathered from stakeholders.

I note that the committee received 19 responses in total. Just under half came from local authorities, under a third came from industry organisations and the remainder came from Government bodies, festival organisations and two community groups. Everything included in those responses mirrors views that have already been shared with the Scottish Government. We were confused by a few local authorities saying that we had not involved them, as we had and they contributed to the report. From reading some of the responses that the committee received, I think that there was perhaps a misunderstanding about the engagement that we did for the report and the committee’s call for evidence.

As the report outlines, the feedback that we received broadly fell under the following headings: calls to improve guidance; calls to amend legislation; and asks that were out of scope. We have committed to actions to address the first two areas, and I note that the evidence that you received broadly endorses that approach.

Considerable feedback was gathered from a range of stakeholders and sources. We have been careful not to draw conclusions, as we feel that there is not yet sufficient data available to assess impacts.

The report provides early insights and information on initial short-term licence application levels across Scotland, considers current operational processes and identifies operational improvements, including Scottish Government actions, where appropriate. We have already made operational adjustments to the licensing scheme as a direct result of feedback from a range of stakeholders.

I understand that some groups within the sector want us to halt the present regulation and undertake a review. We have committed to on-going monitoring, but it would not be responsible to review regulation that has only just been implemented and is still in a transitional phase, especially for a sector that has invested in compliance and because licensing is meeting its purpose of ensuring consistent safety standards.

We will continue to work with and listen to stakeholders. I am pleased to inform the committee that, as well as the regular engagement that we already have in place, the first meeting of the guidance expert group that is being facilitated by VisitScotland will take place later this month.

We have already said that we are open to undertaking further consultation once the guidance work concludes. We cannot address that through guidance and we need to gather wider views before deciding how to proceed.

I am happy to answer any questions that the committee has.

I will bring in Anita Stewart in a second because she has been dealing with that as well. When we set out the wider scheme, we talked about bed and breakfasts and guest houses—we have talked about them previously with the committee. With home letting, it was a case of seeing how that settled down. We have issued guidance to local authorities on that point.

The point that I made right at the very start is that the process is all about safety and compliance, which are of paramount importance in what we are looking for. I will bring in Anita Stewart to add to that.

You will know, convener, that I was a member of the committee when we first discussed short-term lets, and I listened to some of the concerns about the issue at that time.

Government ministers have met the Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers on about 10 occasions—I have met it on seven occasions so far—so we are obviously listening to it regularly. We have also met and engaged with the Scottish Tourism Alliance. We have spoken to the likes of Booking.com, Airbnb and so on a number of times as well. Indeed, they met with the previous First Minister, Mr Yousaf, and the current Deputy First Minister, and they endorsed our approach of looking at the review, seeing what we need to do and seeing how things bed down.

We have been listening to providers. We might not have agreed with all the points that they have raised but we have certainly listened to them. We are not downplaying. As part of the process, we are saying that people should look at the implementation update and let things bed down a little. We have made changes already. We have listened and will continue to listen, and I have made that commitment when meeting providers.

We have also engaged with the Society of Local Authority Lawyers and Administrators. Local authorities are the licensing bodies, and we get feedback from the sector on the time taken to process applications and how those are assessed using local interpretation, on which we have tried to work with SOLAR.

We have worked with providers face to face and through local authorities to pick up issues that they have had with local authorities as well. We have issued further guidance, as required, following feedback from the ASSC and the STA, for example.

It is very much an on-going process and we have mentioned that to the providers regularly.