THE Scottish Government’s new licensing scheme has been under intense scrutiny this week.
Introduced amidst the backdrop of a rapid rise in the number of Airbnb listings in Scotland and a housing crisis, it requires hosts to display energy performance ratings on listings, have adequate buildings and public liability insurance, as well as various fire and gas safety precautions.
Due to go live on October 1 – after an initial 6-month delay – industry leaders have again been in lobbying overdrive, sounding the alarm and claiming the scheme will decimate Scotland’s tourism sector.
They have also expressed significant concerns over the costs of obtaining a licence, with individual local authority costs ranging from 250 to 5,869.
On Tuesday, the Scottish Conservatives said they will hold a debate and force a vote on the scheme before the October deadline.
This was followed on Wednesday by a letter signed by a total of 37 MSPs, including all 31 Conservatives and party leader Douglas Ross, three frontbench Labour MSPs, two LibDems and SNP MSP Fergus Ewing calling on Humza Yousaf to delay the scheme.
The First Minister has repeatedly ruled out a further extension to the deadline.
The discourse surrounding the issue has been far from error-free, so The National has taken the time to debunk and answer some of the claims circulating on social media.
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