Scotland's Airbnb Crackdown
More than 100,000 children on social housing waiting lists in Scotland
Operating in 191 countries worldwide, AirBnb has made holiday lettings cheap and easy for the users. But many argue that the lettings company is contributing to the worsening global housing crisis. Scotland is now implementing new laws to curb the damage of short-term lets..
On Edinburgh’s Royal Mile, council leader Cammy Day says that most of the flats are now let out short-term, for students or holidaymakers. “I would rather see people living in these fairly large family flats” she says. But development companies make more profit from short-term lets. Scotland has recently become the first country in the world to require a license for holiday letting hosts to operate. There are concerns about the impact on the tourist industry in Scotland. “We are losing potentially a couple of thousand properties like this” says Fran, who lets her property on AirBnb. Cammy argues that the new legislation aims to “manage the city centre more effectively” so locals can have somewhere to live at the same time as cultivating a strong tourist industry.
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