At the Local Government Housing and Planning Committee today:
"the Minister for Housing moved— …That the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee recommends that the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) Amendment Order 2024 be approved. The Committee agreed the motion (by division: For 4, Against 0, Abstentions 3)"[1]
There was some discussion around the amendments. Interestingly the Minister described the short-term let licensing regime as a “iterative process”[2] with undertakings at various points to review the extent of the transfer provision as they do not capture insolvency events or the death of a licence holder, the failure of the provisional licence provision to include conversions (the provision only applies to new builds), and the exemption for alcohol licensed premises.
A rough and ready transcript of the meeting can be read here.
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See minutes. Concerns were expressed by Committee members who abstained that the amendments did not go far enough to address the concerns from the trade bodies and industry. ↩
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We are not sure if many licensing practitioners or those in the trade would be happy with a licensing regime being described as an “iterative process”. Arguably legislation should be allowed to settle down before it is amended. Doing so creates uncertainty. ↩
Licensing in Scotland 