Owners of short-term lets such as Airbnbs in East Renfrewshire will need to pay for licences as a new regime is rolled out across Scotland.
Anyone running a short-term let will now have to abide by compulsory conditions after measures were put in place due to concerns over the impact of the properties on communities.
Fees in East Renfrewshire will range from £230 to £595. In Glasgow, they increase from £125 to £400 depending on the type of property being let.
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Officials at East Renfrewshire Council reported the Scottish Government suggested a top level fee of £437 but this would “not cover the costs required to fund this service”.
Covering the full costs would require a licence fee of around £1,300, they added, but admitted charging the full fee would “be a risk to the local economy and damage tourism”.
After benchmarking with councils of “similar size and level of estimated short term lets”, officials decided on the £230 to £595 scale.
It is estimated that just under 100 properties in East Renfrewshire are used as short-term lets, and a “large majority” are in the Eastwood area, whereas Glasgow will have a higher number.
There are four types of short-term lets: secondary letting, home letting, home sharing or home letting and home sharing.
Secondary letting properties are those where the host does not normally live there. Home letting uses the hosts only or main home while home sharing involves a room in the host’s home. Home letting and sharing licences will allow a mix of both over the licensing period.
A secondary letting licence will cost £595 for up to two bedrooms then £50 per extra bedroom. For a home letting licence, it will be £405 for up to two bedrooms then £50 per additional room and for home sharing, it will cost £230 per bedroom.
Home letting and sharing licences will be £405 for up to two bedrooms then £50 per extra room. Licence renewals will cost £565 for a secondary letting policy with up to two bedrooms then £30 per extra room.
Renewals for home letting licences will be £385, and £30 for every room over two, and home sharing renewals will be £219 per bedroom. It will cost £385 for a home letting and sharing renewal for up to two bedrooms and £30 per additional room.
In a report to councillors, officials said: “The objective of the licensing scheme is to regulate a previously unregulated business activity and aims to improve: guest health and safety; property condition; reduce anti-social behaviour within communities and allow local authorities to determine what impact this business activity has in relation to local planning and housing provision.”
Councils were required to be ready to accept licensing applications from Saturday (October 1) and all new short-term let owners must apply for a licence now. Existing owners have six months, until April 1, to apply for a licence.
“The council must make a determination on the licence application within twelve months,” the report added. “The final deadline for all short term let licences to be approved is 1st July 2024.”
Applications will be considered by the council’s licensing committee or, if there are “no matters of concern”, by officials.
The fees were agreed before going to the cabinet due “to the timescales for the introduction of the licensing regime”. Council leader Owen O’Donnell and housing convener Cllr Danny Devlin were consulted.
Costs, which will be absorbed into existing budgets, will include staff time to process applications, check compliance, carry out risk based inspections and deal with objections.
Only four responses were received to East Renfrewshire’s consultation on the introduction of the licensing regime, which officials said was “challenging” without a confirmed list of short-term let operators. Another consultation is planned next summer to review the policy and support hosts.
The full short-term lets policy can be viewed on the council's website.
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