Highland Council faces legal threat over short-term lets crackdown

Highland Council has been warned of legal action over its plans for strict control of short-term property letting.

A public consultation on the proposal for Inverness is currently seeking feedback on proposed “control areas” aimed at easing a chronic housing shortage.

About 10,000 people are on the Highland housing waiting list.

Councillors in all areas of Highland are considering whether to follow Badenoch and Strathspey which has already adopted the policy.

However, self-caterers, who successfully challenged the same policy in Edinburgh, say there is no evidence the policy works.

Highland Council disagrees, saying it has collected such evidence after trialling a scheme in Badenoch and Strathspey.

Fiona Campbell of the Association of Scotland’s Self Caterers (ASSC) said her organisation had no problem with planning control areas “when applied proportionately and with evidence they are going to work,” but that it would otherwise consider another legal challenge.

Highland Council last month (APRIL) stated that early indications suggested a short term let control area in Badenoch and Strathspey had “slowed the growth of secondary short-term lets across an area which has seen a high proportion of properties sold to buyers from outwith the area.”

Within a controlled area, planning permission is required to change the use of an existing dwelling house – where the owner does not live – to a short term let.

Fiona Campbell of the ASSC told STV News: “The Court of Session has already said that they cannot apply a planning control area retrospectively.

“You cannot ask an existing operator to prove that they don’t require planning permission as part of licensing.

“Until Highland Council applies this planning control area lawfully we cannot support it.”

She added: “Unfortunately, we’ve had to take the City of Edinburgh Council to the Court of Session twice – and won on both occasions.

“Both judicial reviews referred specifically to the same matters being discussed in the Highlands. So, if required we will take this to a judicial review.”

She said her organisation “would rather work constructively” with Highland Council.

Highland Council convener Bill Lobban said he hoped the latest consultation would give an accurate indication how local residents feel the housing shortage should be dealt with.

“In the end, it’s for local members to decide,” he said.

Earlier this month, the council announced that a £1million fund would help owners of long-term empty homes carry out repairs and refurbishments to bring properties back into everyday use.

There are almost 2,500 long-term empty properties in the region, 41% of which have been vacant for more than three years.

Grants of up to £30,000 in rural areas, and up to £25,000 in urban areas, will be available to eligible applicants.

In return, properties must be brought back into use and either let at “affordable” mid-market rent or occupied as the owner’s main residence for a minimum of five years.

Properties must have been empty for at least a year.