As you may have noticed, there was a pretty intensive campaign recently to attempt a Scottish Government rethink on the onerous short-term let licensing scheme which came into force on 1st October 2023. Now that the dust has settled and the scheme has started, the honest truth is that we still don’t have a clear picture as to the damage that the legislation has done to our sector. There are certainly going to be numerous businesses which have had no option but to close down as a result, many already have, but the Scottish Government itself doesn’t know how many STL operators there were, so it will take some time to see how many are left once licence holders are tallied. One thing that we do know is your next holiday in Scotland is going to be more expensive. With a drop in the number of available self-catering holiday homes, fewer guest houses and less bed and breakfasts, demand is going to be higher with less supply so, naturally, it will cost more to stay at your destination. And that is if there is any accommodation at all – in some places the only bed and breakfast has now closed for good. So where does all this leave us?

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