Tourism groups fear hundreds of accommodation providers could be “criminals” within a few weeks due to new legislation.
From today there are only 53 working days until the cut-off date for applying for a short term let (STL) licence.
So far, just over 2,000 of the estimated 10,000 operators in the region have submitted applications and only 1,000 licences have been issued.
There is concern many will leave the industry before the October 1 deadline amid calls for it to be extended again.
Why are short term let licences needed?
The Scottish Government legislation requires local authorities to set up a licensing scheme for STLs.
New operators – those not in business before October 2022 – cannot accept bookings or guests until they get a STL licence.
Existing providers can continue to operate lawfully after October 1 only if they have been granted a licence or submitted an application.
A provisional licence number will be allocated once an application is validated.
Existing operators can continue normally as long as they have applied by October 1.
If they don’t do that, they will then be treated as new operators.
The scheme has been criticised by many operators.
Critics say it could drive out many providers who could potentially break the law if they miss the deadline.
The Association of Scottish Self Caterers (ASSC) says a recent survey of 1,225 members showed 61% are considering giving up by October 1.
ASSC chief executive Fiona Campbell said: “That’s huge and feels like a tourism problem to me.
“What’s going to happen is that there will be masses more second homes lying empty and hundreds of campervans on roads. Where else are people going to go?
“The whole thing is delusional, unenforceable, unimplementable and incompetent as a piece of legislation.”
How many licences have been issued?
A Highland Council spokeswoman said it has received 2,135 licence applications.
These include 303 applications from new hosts and 1,832 from existing hosts.
A total of 999 licences have been issued.
The council currently has a 12-strong team dedicated to processing applications and hope to recruit two more shortly.
The spokeswoman added: “Multi-agency discussions are ongoing with regard to the protocol which will be followed after October 1 for hosts/operators who have not applied for a short term let licence.”
Tourism body SkyeConnect said it is worried so few applications have been submitted and approved with just two and a half months to go.
“It is estimated that there could be as many as 10,000 short-term let premises in the Highlands.
“This means potentially only 10% of operators have so far secured a licence.”
The group says many businesses will have already taken bookings for the winter and beyond.
“Clear guidance is needed to ensure large numbers of operators do not face the prospect of criminal sanction as a result of the licensing system.
“We acknowledge that the Highland Council licensing team have a huge amount of work ahead of them and the sensible solution would be to extend the application deadline to the end of the year at least.
“However, we understand the Scottish Government has said there will be no extension.”
Tourism benefiting from licence scheme
A marketing campaign ran in October 2022 and March 2023 to encourage licence applications.
A final phase is planned from August 14 to highlight the deadline and consequences of non-compliance.
In March, the Scottish Government agreed a “one-off” deadline extension from April to October.
A spokeswoman said many short term let hosts have already obtained licences.
“Scottish tourism is therefore already benefiting from this endorsement of quality assurance for guests and visitors.
“The core component of our licensing scheme is a mandatory set of safety standards that apply to all short-term lets, which many hosts will already be meeting as a matter of best practice or compliance with existing law.
“Our scheme also gives local authorities the powers to strike a balance between the economic and tourism benefits of short-term lets by addressing community concerns.
“We would encourage hosts considering letting or those already operating to contact the council where their accommodation is located to obtain more information about how to apply.”
