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VIDEO

AUDIO

Drone Terrigal

FILE: busy beach

During the summer months.. towns up and down Australia’s coastline are bursting at the seams.

PPL standing on porch of house

And property owners are enjoying the benefits – thanks, largely to holiday rental apps like Airbnb

File : AIR BNB Corporate video

STRAP: Courtesy of Air BnB

THIRD PARTY: Introducing the Airbnb 2022 Winter Release

THIRD PARTY: The Airbnb 2022 Summer Release A new Airbnb for a new world of travel Airbnb

THIRD PARTY: Introducing the Airbnb 2022 Winter Release

The holiday letting giant is active in 191 countries

Before you get started, we have one thing to say Welcome

you're going to get used to saying that. A lot

And their marketing videos sell the holiday letting dream

5:34 – I hope this makes it easier to put your place on Airbnb

EDINBURGH_DRONE_0697

But many say that holiday letting companies like this, are aggravating housing issues across the globe

But there’s now a reckoning

And Scotland is going hard

1.

TITLE: SCOTLAND’S AIRBNB CRACKDOWN

2.

Edinburgh street scene

D3 Cam 1 @ 04:11:11:02 ( WS street)

D3 Cam A @ 04:18:00:16

D3 Ronin @ 01:27:55:15

Upsot Bagpipe / street ambience

3.

SC_EW_D3_RONIN_20

PTC in front of castle

PTC: One of the UK’s most popular destinations, Edinburgh relies on holiday rentals like air bnb to host the tourists that contribute around 2 billion Australian dollars to the Scottish economy.

But it comes at a cost

4.

Suzannah - Case Study

5.

D3 @ 04:14:52:05

D3 @ 04:17:38:10 – WS street

D3 @ 04:18:49:20 – ppl

D3 @ 04:19:01:13 – Family

D3@ Shot of letting sign- 04:09:50:10

It’s the start of the academic year and 40,000 students have descended on Edinburgh.

ALT: With working professionals, students and families all competing for accommodation – vacancy rates are very low.

Or pick up

But the number of available rental properties in Edinburgh has more than halved since 2020

6.

Sequence Suzannah walking along

THOUGHT TRACK

SC_EW_D2_Ronin

01:23:42:21

WS/ baby hands, Suzannah face

In the suburb of Leith, just north of Edinburgh’s city centre, single Mum Suzanne is struggling to find a place to live.

7.

Suzannah walking in and sitting down at park bench

Thought track

SC_EW_D2_Ronin

01:23:42:21

WS/ baby hands, Suzannah face

Suzanne (03:21:52):

So about a month ago

Suzanne (03:22:08):

we got an email saying we've been evicted, and it was all legal and above board. They gave us, I think it's 84 days notice, or something .But either way, that was not the news I was hoping for while I was running out of my maternity pay, and looking to settle in.

8.

Evan meet and greet

SC_D2 @ 03:20:05:13

Ev: Hello Suzannne

S: Hiya

E: Evan

9.

IV on park bench

Evan (03:23:05):

So what's happening with you at the moment with your accommodation?

Suzanne (03:23:13):

It's quite stressful, because I think for me, obviously if it was just me I would be a bit more flexible in what I can take and where I can go, but I don't drive, and I'm a single mum with a seven month old,

10.

Wide of Conversation

Susannah is a psychologist on maternity leave

Her higher income should open more doors,

But, rents have gone up 15% here in the past 12 months. Making the median cost of a rental more expensive than Sydney or Melbourne

11.

Best take is on Ev’s reversal

Evan (03:28:39):

Compared to what you've been renting your place for, what are the prices like now for a similar sort of space?

Suzanne (03:28:47):

Well, there's actually flats going, or there were in the building that I'm in. So I'm paying 850, and they've gone for 1200, 1350.

Evan (03:28:55):

Wow, so it's a 5, almost 600 pound a month increase?

Suzanne (03:28:59):

Pretty much, yeah. And I've only moved there two years ago.

12.

Shot on Suzanne

Evan (03:29:24):

what's driving up the rental prices?

Suzanne (03:25:09):

The short term lets, I think it's really saturated the market in between the students and the Airbnbs, and things like that, there's nothing available that's not really expensive.

Evan (03:30:36):

So what's the impact on people like you of this situation?

Suzanne (03:30:40):

Well, I think it's forcing local people out of the city, the outskirts of town, because it's just not affordable anymore for just people who have jobs, and are not here for a holiday, or anything like that.

13.

Scotland GV’s

The housing crunch can’t be solely blamed on holiday rentals like Air bnb.

Scotland is facing a huge housing crisis.

With over200,000 people on social housing waitlists and the rental market over inflated, the government is taking radical action to strip back holiday lets and return thousands of properties to residential use.

14.

GFX

Map of Scotland / zooming in on Edinburgh and royal mile – dots appearing where there is an Air bnb

There are almost 40,000 Air bnb listings in Scotland, of that, around 8,000 are in Edinburgh, with the greatest concentration here, around the infamous Royal mile

15.

Cammy Day – Edinburgh Council Leader

16.

GV’s Royal mile / tourist shops/ flags/ touristy destinations / Key Lock boxes

17.

D3 Ronin

Cammy day in his office

According to Edinburgh council leader Cammy Day the proliferation of holiday lets has created huge problems for the city.

18.

D3 Ronin

THOUGHT TRACK

Cammy day in his office

Cammy (04:25:09):

Over decades we've seen the shift, change in terms of more and more short term lets, Airbnb one of the platforms, a whole number providers of short term lets across the city and we feel in Edinburgh that balance has just got a bit off kilter

19.

Evan and Cammy from behind

D3 Ronin @ 01:44:02:23

Out on the royal mile, Cammy has offered to show me the problem as he sees it.

20.

Evan and Cammy standing outside council

Evan (01:44:35):

At the moment is this like a ground zero for the short term lets?

Cammy (01:44:39):

It’s probably the most popular part and in summertime this street here is closed off. It becomes a fringe festival for the city and in the heart of, so this is a prime area for people to get to stay in. And this is where you'll see, I'm sure mainly the short term lets right here. I would rather see people living in these fairly large family flats

21.

Evan and Cammy walking and talking down royal mile

Cammy (01:45:12):

We know there are development companies and individuals buying up these properties to then put them into the short term market because they know the income for a property here is probably quite a lot of money every week

Evan (01:45:32):

what would they be making a week from somewhere here?

Cammy (01:45:34):

I think easily you could get 2000 pounds probably. That's a conservative estimate

Cammy (0v1:47:11):

So this is an example, some beautiful old flat bang in the city center and we see here eight of eleven flats in the high street and Royal mile being used as short term lets. A

22.

Cammy and Ev chat outside STL

Evan and Cammy walking back into Council. D3 Ronin @ 01:59:41:10

02:00:17:15

Evan (01:48:49):

I mean what's the problem? surely that helps people, helps bring money into Edinburgh having so many short term, it's right here. This is the selling point, isn't it?

Cammy (01:49:01):

So it helps bring an income to their businesses around here for a short period of time during the festival time or at Christmas in the year. What we want to see is people who live here, who use a local businesses and shops all year round and become part of the high street in the old town in the royal mile.

I'm not here at all to suggest we should get rid of all short term lets, but we want to rebalance that between short term layers and residential properties here particularly in the city center.

CAMMY IS NOW PUSHING TO REGULATE HOLIDAY RENTALS

23.

Transition out to file /

FILE: USA_PPL_WEED_COPS_SKATEBOARDERS_SUNSET_LA_LIFEGUARDS_BEACH_FLAGS_OSMO

04:51 – beach with houses in BG

04:58 – PPL on beach

POND 5

AVOCA_DJI_0181 @ 29:31:00 - Drone

AVOCA_C1-009 @00:08:35:08 - houses

AVOCA_C1-012 @ 11:10:35:00 – WS beach and house

Transition from file back to cammy

IN PARTS OF AMERICA APARTMENT RENTALS ARE BANNED FOR ANY PERIOD LESS T HAN 31 DAYS

TAXES HAVE BEEN SLAPPED ON HOSTS AND GUESTS TO TRY AND LIMIT NUMBERS

IN AUSTRALIA SOME COUNCILS INSIST HOSTS LIVE WITHIN 20 KM

AND THEY’VE INTRODUCED BIZARRE BANS ON CLAPPING AND SINGING TO RESTRICT PARTY RENTALS (Noosa)

24.

Back top Cammy

D3 Ronin @ 01:39:44:18

UPSOT:

D3 ronin @ 01:39:31:22:

Evan: and One of the big things has been complaints about party flats

01:39:57:20

Cammy: yeah, people complaining about antisocial behaviour in stair wells

SO WHAT’S CAMMY’S PLAN?

ALT

Cammy master IV

Cammy (04:29:23):

So if you have a property that you're looking to let on the market, to short term let, you'll need a planning application for that. But you'll also need a license to operate as a short term let property.

25.

GV’s of houses?

In a world first. From April all holiday letting hosts in the country will need a licence to operate.

And licences will only granted to properties that adhere to a strict criteria as laid out by local councils.

26.

Master IV

2 cam IV – We will have Evans questions

Evan (04:35:41):

Is there a danger here that you're going to restrict the amount of accommodation available for everybody that wants to come?

Cammy (04:35:47):

We'll take every application as it comes, but undoubted this will mean a reduction in the availability of some properties. What we're seeing is that the city centre, particularly, has become saturated with short term lets and we want to rebalance that so we can have a living, thriving community here. That includes tourism as well.

27.

Tourist GV’s on oryal mile

Ppl taking pictures/ selfies

Tourism is one of Scotland’s biggest employers and an industry worth almost 21 billion Australian dollars (11.6 billion pounds)

MANY HOLIDAY LETTING HOSTS ARE FURIOUS WITH THE CHANGES AND SAY THE TOURISM INDUSTRY WILL COLLAPSE WITHOUT THEM

28.

FRAN WHITTON - AIR BNB OWNER

29.

Thought track sequence Fran walking into and cleaning her Air bnb

D1 @ 00:58:58:02

00:59:50:00

01:01:35:22

Fran (35:50):

Tourists are not going to have as much choice, because we are losing potentially a couple of thousand properties like this. And yeah, they're just going to have a very different experience.

As the number of AirBnB listings surge - hosts have come under fire - often called ‘greedy investors’ for profiting off dozens of properties, and for living far away from their listings.

- but this is not the case for the majority of hosts .

A former hospitality worker, Fran has lived just off the royal mile for the past 20 years

Today she’s getting ready to host some guests in her one-and-only Air bnb property

30.

SEQ Evan walking into Fran flat

D1 00:00:47:06

00:01:56:22

00:02:41:05

Mountain out window

00:31:35:09

Ev: Hi

Fran: g’day knackers, come in

Evan (02:44):

Nice to meet you. This is it then? Yes. That's lovely. Very bright, isn't it? From the outside. And then you've got, what's the big mountain over there?

Fran (02:50):

That's called Arthur’s seat

Evan (02:51):

Oh, is it famous? That's a famous Edinburgh Landmark.

Fran: It certainly is. Great view, isn't it?

31.

Fran gives Evan a tour of her place

Fran bought this one-bedroom apartment two years ago, its now her sole source of income.

32.

Fran showing Evan the bathroom

Standing in kitchen

Fran (10:01):

This is my investment as, I can't particularly work in the field that I used to be in, which was catering, hospitality because of my back. So this is a much easier way for me to get an income.

//

Evan (10:45):

And what's the other main reason why you bought this one? How close are you?

Fran (10:48):

I live next door ha ha ha

Upsot: it’s a tenement or close

33.

Ev and and Fran walking out her door and into stair well

Frans Air bnb is one apartment in a block of 18

It’s also in a tenement… which means every other apartment shares a common front door and this stairwell.

34.

Evan and Fran walking up stairs

Fran and Evan chat in Stairwell

Evan (20:13):

So is everybody happy with it? The fact that it's an Airbnb?

Fran (20:18):

Certainly the neighbours that I know are absolutely fine with it.

Evan (20:24):

Wow. Okay. I see. So these are all different apartments here. That's right.

//

Evan (22:47):

Do you think there are problems with Airbnbs in tenements like this? I mean, do you think there are issues In place?

Fran (22:53):

Potentially. But you have to think a lot of these flats are very, very small. Isn't a lot of room to swing a cat, let alone have a big party.

Evan (23:04):

Do you think there should be some regulation?

Fran (23:16):

I think potentially,

Evan (23:17):

Yes. In what way?

Fran (23:19):

Maybe it might be an idea that people are not allowed to own perhaps more than five Airbnbs,

//

Evan (23:33):

And regulating that, how would that change the way that people use them?

Fran (23:42):

Maybe if you have a hundred or 200 airbnbs, you are maybe not greeting your guests and checking your guests. There's an awful lot of people who are like me, who just have one property and make sure that the people who go into it are gonna respect it and respect the Neighbours

35.

D1 @ 00:27:28:03

Shot of Stairs/ tenement

ALT: Because Fran’s apartment shares a stairwell and front door with these other apartments she thinks she’s unlikely to get a licence to operate as an Air BNB under the new regulations

36.

Master IV inside Frans flat

Fran (33:48):

So you pay, I think, I believe it's up to 700 pounds for your planning permission. And generally it is being, it's not being given, permission is not being given, because this is a shared front door, shared with other people.

Evan (36:49):

And how many of the Airbnbs in Edinburgh do you think are like this?

Fran (36:54):

A lot. An awful lot. Yes. Because this is the way a tenement is basically how to pack in a lot of people in a small space. And it is... That's what a lot of Edinburgh is.

37.

AL

Hosts have until October to apply for planning permission and a licence…

Fran’s decided to give up Air BNB and find long-term tenants.

38.

ALT

Master Iv at kitchen table

Evan (09:52):

How does it feel to be now in this situation?

Fran (09:54):

I have to say that I've lost some of my enthusiasm about it. One of the things that happens with the Airbnb is that guests write you a review. And I'm afraid that the last month or so I've not written reviews back, because it's got to stop. And I feel quite sad about it. I feel very sad about actually

39.

Evan walking through London

Amanda in meeting with her team

I’ve come to London to speak with the general manger of Air Bnb’s Northern Europe division, Amanda Cupples.

She says while the company isn’t averse to regulation and registration… THE licencing PLAN IN Scotland, takes it too far.

40.

Master IV

Amanda (03:10):

The idea that you need to be licenced to open up your home, we think is disproportionate and really, really burdens them on these kind of everyday people

Amanda (02:32):

Most people don't know this. Around 80% of our hosts are really ordinary everyday hosts. The majority of hosts actually open up their primary home.

Amanda (04:59):

Now, the fact that so disproportionately, it's those people who are saying, actually I'm not going to host anymore, I think is sort of testament to why this legislation is misdirected.

41.

Master IV

Evan (09:04):

Shouldn't they be licenced in a way to give the council and and neighbours more control?

Amanda (09:27):

We absolutely acknowledge and agree that in some local areas it might be necessary. It might be desirable to limit, you know, the type or the, the, the extent of short term letting activity that takes place

Amanda (09:57):

It's not really for us to say as to whether that's the right thing for a community. At the end of the day, short term letting is only one input into what is a very, very complex problem, which is housing.

42.

Master IV

Evan (29:05):

What do you think is gonna be the long term impact of Scotland pursuing this in the way that they've so far outlined?

Amanda (30:22):

These communities are going to be damaged. These families are going to be damaged. there is, there's not another source of income that they can turn to.

Amanda (13:45):

We would very much expect to see impact in those rural communities where actually often tourism is the industry, It supports a village pub, it supports a village shop. All of that is put at risk when you can't do that anymore

43.

ISLE OFTIREE

44.

Drone: drone the green @ 00:01:17:26

FILE: drone vaule @ 00:01:53:06

P1020156 @ 00:00:04:01 (boat launch)

P1010824 @ 00:00:03:40 (ppl at festival)

Shithouse weather

D5@ 07:07:02:13

D4 @05:34:43:21

Car drives past

Outside of Edinburgh, the Hebrides has the highest density of Air bnbs in the country

On islands like Tiree, the population triples in the summer and the money they make during that time carries them through the long winter.

Upsot: shit weather

With tourists gone, and the bad weather set in… we’re told this is when their unique housing problem is most visible.

Upsot: Car drives past

D4@ 05:35:46:13

45.

Thought track Rhoda driving

D5 @ 06:51:10:07

06:52:23:05

“Rhoda” pulls into hotel

D4 @ 05:51:51:07

Rhoda (05:56:22):

Our biggest challenge here at the moment is finding housing for permanent residents.

Rhoda Meeks is a crofter, councillor and third generation islander.

Rhoda (05:56:51):

In the last couple of years we've had teachers turn down jobs because they can't find housing. We've had care staff unable to come and take up jobs, because again, they can't find housing. And so that is enormously challenging for a small community

1.

Ev at bar

Rhoda meeting Ev

GV’s inside pub

Upsot music in pub

It’s Friday night and I’ve arranged to meet Rhoda at the pub

Upsot: Hi Ev

Rhoda echoes the concerns voiced by Airbnb and thinks the new legislation, could force hosts to remove their properties from the holiday letting market all together.

46.

Rhoda in pub

07:51:43:24

07:51:54:02

Rhoda (06:11:38):

If we lose all of those short term lets, we have a massive impact in our tourist economy. And we have a lot of businesses in this island who rely on tourist income through the summer to get them through the winter

47.

Islanders in pub / playing pool etc

Housing is the number one issue for islanders but Rhoda doesn’t think short term lets are the main problem.

And she’s offered to show me what she means the next day

48.

D5 Rhoda driving

Car driving in wet - 07:06:20:18 or 07:08:36:16

D5 R5c @ 02:02:30:01 -2 shot with Evan

DRIVING UPSOT

You over the last year. This year tiree has had over a meter of rain. We get plenty rain here in Scotland, but that is, you know, knocking out the park that.

49.

Driving with Rhoda

Rhoda pointing out empty houses and air bnbs

Rhoda (06:56:25):

pretty much every single house you're seeing as we go past here is not permanently lived in.

Evan (06:56:40):

And has that happened more recently over the years?

Rhoda (06:56:42):

Yes, Just gradually attrition rate people moving away from work. Same here. Which almost all of these are our second homes in one way, shape or form.

Evan (06:56:59):

Second home or short term lets

Rhoda (06:57:01):

Combination of the two. Mm-hmm. Majority second home. But there's both

50.

Gv’s of desolate Tiree

05:30:53:01 – House

05:34:43:21 – house

05:44:57:23 - Houses

While the island struggles to accommodate residents and workers .

Over a third of houses on the island ARE SECOND HOMES. MOSTLY OWNED BY WEALTHY MAINLANDERS WHO VISIT FOR JUST A FEW WEEKS OF THE YEAR

They aren’t even listed on Air bnb and contribute nothing to tourism or the community.

51.

Ext Rhodas house

52.

Evan and Rhoda walking int o sit at table

Rhoda has been documenting Tiree’s declining housing stocks for years.

And She wants to show me this worrying research

53.

D5

Evan and Rhoda looking at google map with pins showing every empty house in Tiree.

06:39:32:00 – CU map with flashing lights

Rhoda (06:30:14):

Okay. So what you can see here is the east end of the island, which is where I live. And just here the green lights are permanently lived in. And the red and orange lights are houses that are not permanently lived in

54.

Rhoda and Evan looking at computer in her kitchen

Rhoda (06:00:18):

54% of our total stock is lived in and 46% is not permanent lived in all year round. So that equates to 279 houses.

Evan (06:00:29):

Wow.

Rhoda (06:00:29):

That's a lot of houses.

//

Evan (06:01:03):

what's the percentage of places that are short term lets?

Rhoda (06:01:07):

So short term lets, it's about 16% of our total stock housing stock

Rhoda (06:01:23):

So when we actually sat down and ran the numbers, it was really interesting to see that whilst short term lets make up a reasonable percentage of our housing stock, 16%. Actually the bigger problem here is the fact that there's so many houses sitting that aren't used as much as they should be

55.

With Tiree’s housing crisis closely linked to empty homes, there are fears that the new air bnb legislation might damage the islands economy... and housing stocks.

56.

Rhoda and Evan at table

Rhoda (06:16:31):

what I'm worried we're going to see is people whose houses maybe are needing some work, who've been letting them for a while, people for whom they don't need to let, they're comfortably off. I can see those people saying, " Yeah, I'm not going to bother. I'm just not going to let it. It's going to become a holiday house only and those houses are still not going to go back into community use.

*Breath*

57.

Rhoda in paddock 50 FPS

D5@ 07:30:46:23

D5@ 07:29:48:02

D5 @07:30:03:12

Tiree needs houses for short and long term lets. But what they don’t want is empty second homes used only a couple of times a year.

… and there’s a lot at stake if they don’t deal with that problem.

58.

Speccy Tiree shots

D5 @ 07:35:25:20

D5 @ 07:35:59:13

D5 @ 07:37:19:00

D5 @ 07:40:30:22 ppl on beach

D5 @ 07:41:19:14 guy on beach

D5 @ 07:39:55:10

Rhoda (06:30:54):

It's going to be like a wet desert around here. We're not going to have the people in communities, we're not going to have folk looking out for each other that you need here. We're losing our language, we're losing our culture, and we're going to see things hollowed out, completely hollowed out.

59.

Drone Edinburgh

BACK IN EDINBURGH, THE NEW LEGISLATION APPEARS TO BE HAVING THE DESIRED EFFECT.

Add upsot of fran in her air bnb

FRANS PROPERTY IS NOW BACK ON THE LONG-TERM RENTAL MARKET.

ALBEIT, RELUCTANTLEY.

60.

Fran (06:54):

As much as I don't want to say this, it's not my problem. I'm not building houses. I'm not renting to students and I don't want to be part of the bandage that the council is asking us to be. I want to be able to, as I own this property, I want to be able to have the people in that I want.

61.

50fps seq of Suzanne walking along, stopping, looking up at apartments and walking off

( you'll need some warp stabiliser)

SC_EW_D2_133.MXF

SC_EW_D2_137.MXF

SC_EW_D2_138.MXF @ 03:38:37:09

But at time when the world is still figuring out how to manage the holiday letting phenomena

Cammy is committed to finding the balance

62.

Cammy (04:50:47):

We've got a huge number of people desperate to find housing in Edinburgh, and I would rather they lived in houses rather than having them used as short term lets

Cammy (04:39:57):

It's not a ban on anything, it's lets be sensitive and sensible to manage the city center more effectively. While we can responsibly grow tourism and I suppose reinvigorate the communities that have been here for generations.