How to fix short-term let problem – John McLellan

There are too many stories of disturbances caused by drunken occupants of short-stay lets for problems to be brushed under the carpet, and better controls on the number of homes used for holidays and parties are badly needed.

For example, a flat in my ward some distance from the city centre even in lockdown has been rented out for parties which carry on until daylight with revellers out on the balcony causing considerable nuisance to neighbours, one of whom is seriously ill.

But that is not the whole story. Some accommodation is well-run and supports local employment and what is needed is not a blanket ban but a proper licensing system with strict criteria where behaviour such as a repeated lack of any concern for neighbours should result in disqualification. A free-for-all is in no-one’s interests.

Five storeys too high?

When I lived in Liberton, I can’t say the Northfield House Hotel was the most thriving of establishments and now there is a plan for its demolition and replacement with student flats. A relatively short hop from King’s Buildings, it might be ok for those looking for a quiet time, and indeed the developer says it will be suitable for “mature students looking for a space of their own”.

Now the international post-graduate market has collapsed, there is at last a real chance that more managed accommodation can free up housing for long-term residential use, but whether five storeys will be acceptable when not so long ago the Gracemount flats were demolished across the road is another thing.

The strange affair of Marketing Edinburgh

One of the strangest episodes in the history of the current Edinburgh Council administration is the collapse of Marketing Edinburgh, strange because an organisation which was solvent in October last year has still not filed accounts due at the end of December. The three directors, all councillors, face the embarrassment of their company incurring fines, so it’s just as well they are not vying to be vice-convener of finance.

Will all be revealed when councillors discuss its future today? I very much doubt it.