A call has been made for Edinburgh to follow Barcelona’s lead and ban Airbnb’s as part of the council’s review into their short-term lets policy.

Edinburgh City Council today launched a new consultation seeking the views of capital residents and businesses on short-term lets.

The 12-week consultation precedes the release of a new report examining how properties are leased within the city centre and the impact of short term lets on the city.

Welcoming the consultation Eilidh Keay, the chair of national tenant's union, Living Rent, said that her organisation and its members would be fighting for tighter regulations.

Having agreed last year to review and evaluate policy on short term lets, Living Rent believe that the council should follow Barcelona's lead and decision earlier this month, to ban Airbnb from 2028.

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New York has also previously outlawed short-term lets, while Berlin banned them as far back as 2014.

Calls for a ban in Scotland have been amplified by ongoing housing crisis and Ms Keay has urged residents to make their feelings clear and tell the council exactly how things should change, describing existing safeguards and regulations as ‘tepid’.

She said: "It is clear that Edinburgh’s crisis of short-term lets has got out of hand. Short-term lets are bad for local housing provision and they’re bad for local communities.

“Edinburgh is the perfect example of how the explosion of holiday lets has forced countless tenants out of the communities they call home due to the loss of long-term homes for residents. Those that can find a home, have seen their rent hiked up due to the unchecked surge in holiday lets hitting Edinburgh’s housing supply. We need a city that works for the people, not just the people passing through.

“The current short-term let regulations we have are tepid at best. The policy is only as good as the enforcement, and the council needs to be much stricter with its enforcement.

“Edinburgh residents should respond to this consultation and tell the council that we need homes not holiday lets!

“As we can see across Europe, other cities are bringing in far tighter regulations. Barcelona has just announced a ban on Airbnb, Edinburgh can and should do the same."

As well as comments from residents of the city via an online survey, the council will also hold discussions with resident groups, industry bodies and other key stakeholders, covering the council’s approach to secondary lending, temporary exemptions, fees, and the application process.

Councillor Neil Ross believes it's an opportunity for the city to hear views on the industry.

He said: “Since we launched Edinburgh's STL licensing policy in October 2022, we've granted over 1,500 applications. This is helping to ensure holiday lets are safe and properly regulated in our city.

"We now want to hear how the scheme has impacted the residents and businesses of Edinburgh. The opportunity for everyone to input into how the short-term lets licensing scheme is working was a commitment we gave last year and over the coming weeks, we want to hear your views.

“I’m confident this will help us to better understand how people are finding the regulation through licensing of short-term lets in Edinburgh and help inform any future decision making."

Despite Living Rent's calls for a ban, the Association of Self Caterers say it's too late to have serious discussions and that many businesses have already been shut down due to the move to further regulate the industry. In a statement to the Herald they accused the council of sticking to a policy that goes against the judgement of the Court of Session. 

Fiona Campbell, chief executive, Association of Scotland’s Self Caterers, said: "It should be encouraging that City of Edinburgh Council are apparently in listening mode again, but it is not. We have been here before and have spent the last few years telling them that the planned legislation would have exactly the impacts that it is now having. 

"Any consultation comes too late for legitimate indigenous businesses that have been shut down as part of the de facto ban that sees 98% of planning applications refused. A consultation at this stage on a policy that still flagrantly flouts the judgement of the Court of Session is a sticking plaster on a broken leg - a woefully inadequate remedy.

"Token gestures will not bring livelihoods back, nor will they undo the devastating harm already done to the local economy and the Festival."