Q&A: A brief overview of new short term let rules coming into force
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What is a Short Term Let control area?
The Scottish Government has granted powers to local authorities to designate Short Term Let control areas to manage high concentrations of secondary lettings.
This is achieved by restricting or preventing short term lets that affect the availability of residential housing and the character of the local community.
Control areas can also help local authorities ensure that homes are used to best balance the housing needs in their areas.
What will be required of secondary letting owners operating in the strath?
Schedule 3 of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) Order 2022, makes it a mandatory licence condition of a STL Licence that if the property is within a STL Control Area that the property is either: -
• subject to an application for planning permission under the 1997 Act and that application has not yet been determined: or
• have planning permission in force under the 1997 Act
This STL licensing mandatory condition therefore necessitate all existing properties being utilised for short-term secondary letting which fall within a STL control area to obtain planning permission to continue to operate, even if that property has been operating as a short-term secondary letting prior to the control area being established.
What are the avenues for obtaining a licence?
There are two avenues for existing operators to obtain permission and the appropriate option depends on how long the property has been used for secondary letting.
• If the property has been used for less than 10 years then planning permission is required by making an application for a change of use to a STL.
• If the property has been used as a let for more than 10 years, then a Certificate of Lawfulness of existing use of development should be sought and these are generally approved without issue.
When do I need to get a licence by?
Existing operators who were operating before 1 October 2022 now have until 1 October 2023 to apply for the STL licence.
As such, a ‘transitional period’ for existing operators, where no planning enforcement would be pursued between 18 June 2023 and 1 October 2023, unless a property is first refused planning approval.
Why is a STL control area necessary in Badenoch and Strathspey?
Highland Council has said a STL control area is not a ban on short-term lets, instead it will allow planning policies to be used by local planning authorities to assess applications which change the use of a dwelling house to this form of use and allow communities and individuals the right to make representations through the planning application process.
The council and Cairngorms National Park Authority said they allocate sufficient land within their respective Local Development Plans to meet predicted housing needs.
But they have said this is not enough as the loss of existing housing stock out with full-time occupancy is such that additional controls are required to help mitigate the affordable housing crisis that is impacting on people’s ability to live and work in an area with high employment opportunities.
Existing or new STL operators across the Badenoch and Strathspey (Ward 20) area can contact the planning development team using email: devplans@highland.gov.uk .
