The Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the work of the Scottish Government’s Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 Task Force.
This paper sets out a comprehensive case for removing short-term lets (STLs) from the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 and replacing the current licensing system with a national registration model aligned with landlord registration. The evidence demonstrates that the existing regime has not achieved its intended aims and has created profound economic, legal and administrative challenges.
Our central conclusion is clear: the Civic Government Act is the wrong legislative home for regulating tourism accommodation.
The submission shows that the current licensing framework has produced no measurable safety improvements, has not reduced anti-social behaviour and has not contributed meaningfully to alleviating housing pressures. Instead, it has reduced lawful accommodation supply, undermined community cohesion, increased black market activity and placed unsustainable burdens on compliant operators, local authorities, Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire & Rescue Service.
The ASSC contends that the scheme has also introduced significant legal instability, particularly through the conflation of planning and licensing, with Court of Session judgments and Kings Counsel legal advice confirming the risks of disproportionate interference with operators’ property rights under A1P1. The scheme is further misaligned with both the purpose of the 1982 Act and modern European regulatory approaches, which emphasise registration as the proportionate mechanism for overseeing short-term accommodation.
The submission proposes a clear national alternative. A statutory registration system would deliver accurate data, enforce mandatory health and safety compliance, enable targeted planning tools to manage density where required, and restore a fair, proportionate regulatory environment that protects communities while supporting responsible tourism businesses. A transition pathway is recommended, including full grandfathering of lawful compliant operators and automatic movement of existing licence holders into the new system.
Reform is now urgent. The Scottish Government has already acknowledged the need for change, and the Task Force has the mandate to act. A decisive shift to national registration, with planning used appropriately to manage concentration, offers a balanced, lawful and evidence-based solution that strengthens both community confidence and Scotland’s wider visitor economy.