Limit on Airbnb-style lets in Highlands proposed

A Highland-wide control zone to limit Airbnb-style lets has been suggested as a way of tackling a shortage of homes across the region.

Councillors proposing the move said 7,011 short-term let licences had been granted across the Highlands, but only four refused.

Holiday lets are not banned in control areas, but operators need planning permission as well as a short-term lets licence.

The councillors said the powers could be used where there was local demand for them.

Highland Council officials said control area status for the whole of the Highlands would require research and, if it was introduced, could mean additional costs and workload for its planning department.

The idea of Highland-wide status has been suggested by Inverness councillors Michael Gregson and Duncan Macpherson.

In a paper going to next weeks meeting of the full council, they said the region needed more than 24,000 homes over the next 10 years.

They added: "The private long-term rental market has shrunk disastrously: estate agents are withdrawing from letting out properties because of the shortage of properties available.

"Even taking into account the efforts of Highland Council and the housing associations, there is a shortage of affordable housing."

The councillors said the local authority should first ask the Scottish government to revisit its original plan to have an overprovision policy within short-term lets legislation.

They said if that was not possible, then to seek approval for Highland control area status.

Mr Gregson told BBC Scotland News online: "We have had in Highland a control zone pilot area in Badenoch and Strathspey, so have useful experience to draw on."

He said the powers could be used to ease pressures on housing, car parking and other amenities.

In their response, officials said there would be financial implications for the local authority around both suggestions from the councillors.

They also said there could be potential challenges to Highland-wide status.

City of Edinburgh Council had to amend its licensing scheme following a court ruling.

John Gordon owns a property in Portree, Skye, that he hopes to run as an Airbnb, but he said he had faced delays in getting a licence - and lost thousands of pounds in the process.

He said a Highland-wide control zone would create even more bureaucracy.

"Tourism keeps getting the blame for the housing crisis," Mr Gordon said.

"The reality is they are going to target small-scale holiday lets, B&Bs and Airbnbs, people like myself, and that seems like a real injustice."

The Association of Scotlands Self-Caterers (ASSC) said a region-wide control area would be "regulatory overkill".

Chief executive Fiona Campbell said: "It piles more red tape onto a sector already struggling under the weight of excessive regulation, without a shred of evidence that it will deliver a single new home."

She said self-catering brought £200m a year to the Highland economy and supported 7,000 jobs, with many businesses family-run.

Ms Campbell added: "These are not the cause of the housing crisis. The real issues lie with empty homes, poor delivery of affordable housing, and lack of new supply."

The whole of the City of Edinburgh Council area was designated Scotlands first short-term let control area in September 2022.

A law requiring operators to have a licence came into force across Scotland in October the following year.

Highland Councils first control zone was approved in December 2023 and covers Badenoch and Strathspey.

Councillors who supported its introduction said it was needed because workers and local young people had difficulties finding affordable homes.