During the summer months, towns up and down Australia's
coastline are bursting at the seams and property
owners are enjoying the benefits, thanks largely to holiday rental apps like Airbnb. The holiday letting giant is active in 191
countries. Before we get started,
we have one thing to say 'Welcome.' You're going to get used to saying that A lot. And their marketing videos
sell the holiday letting dream. I hope this makes it easier to put your place in Airbnb. Many say that holiday
letting companies like this are aggravating
housing issues across the globe. But now there's a reckoning and Scotland is going hard. One of the UK's most popular tourist
destinations, Edinburgh, relies heavily on holiday
lets like Airbnb to host thousands of tourists
who bring in something like 2 billion Australian dollars
to the Scottish economy every year. But it comes at a cost. It's the start of the academic year and 40,000 students have descended on Edinburgh. With working professionals, students and families --
all competing for accommodation vacancy rates are very low In the suburb of Leith,
just north of Edinburgh's city center, single mum Suzanne is struggling
to find a place to live. So about a month ago
we got an email saying we've been evicted It was all sort of legal
and above board. They gave us I think 84 days
notice or something. Either way, that was not the news
I was hoping for while I was sort of running out of my
maternity pay and looking to settle in. Hello! Hiya!
Suzanne, is it? Hi, Evan. Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you too. So what's happening with you at the moment
with your accommodation? It's quite stressful. Obviously, if it was just me, I would be a bit more flexible
in what it can take and where I can go. But I don't drive and I'm a single mum
with a seven month old. Suzanne is a psychologist on maternity
leave. Her higher income should open more doors,
but rents have gone up 15% here in the past 12 months, making the median cost
of a rental more expensive than Melbourne or Sydney. Compared to what
you've been renting your place for, what are the prices like now
for a similar sort of space? Well, there's actually flats going
or they were in the building that I'm in and they've gone from so I'm paying 850 They've gone for 1200, 1350. So there's like a five, almost £600 a month increase. Pretty much.
and I've only moved there two years ago. What's driving up the rental prices? The short term lets. I think it's really saturated the market
in between the students and the Airbnbs and things like that. It's, you know, there's nothing available. That's not really out of,
you know, really expensive. So what's the impact on people
like you of this situation? Well, I think it's forcing local people
out of the city. You know, outskirts of town, because it's
just not affordable anymore for just people who have jobs and are not here
for a holiday or anything like that. The housing crunch can't be solely blamed on holiday rentals like Airbnb. Scotland is facing a huge housing crisis. With over 200,000 people on social housing waitlists
and the rental market overinflated, the government is taking radical action
to strip back holiday lets and return thousands of properties
to residential use. There are almost 40,000 Airbnb listings in Scotland. Of that, around
8,000 are in Edinburgh alone with the greatest concentration
here around the famous Royal Mile. According to Edinburgh Council leader
Cammy Day, the proliferation of holiday lets
has created huge problems for the city. Over decades we've seen the shift,
I think, change in terms of more and more short-term lets, Airbnb
being one of their platforms, a whole number of providers
of short-term lets across the city. and we feel in Edinburgh that
balance has just got a bit off kilter Out on the Royal Mile, Cammy has offered to show me the problem
as he sees it. At the moment is this like a ground zero for the short
term lets? It's probably the most
popular part, and in summertime this street here is closed off and becomes a fringe festival for the city
in the heart of Edinburgh. So this is a prime area for people to get to stay in
and this is where you'll see, I'm sure many of the short term lets right here
where I would rather see people
living in these really large family flats. We know there are development companies
and individuals buying up these properties to then
put them into short term market because they know the income
from our property here is probably quite a lot of money
every week. But would they be making a week
from somewhere here? I think easily you could get £2,000
probably. That's a conservative estimate. So this is an example. You some beautiful old flat spot
in the city center. And we see here eight of 11 flats in the high street and Royal Mile
are being used as short term lets. I mean what's the problem then? Surely that helps bring money into Edinburgh
having so many short-term lets right here, you know,
this is the selling point, isn't it? So it helps bring in income to
the business rent here for a short period time during the festival times
or at Christmas and New Year. What we want to see is people who live
here, who use the local businesses and shops all year round and become part
of the high street in the Old Town and the Royal Mile. Not here at all suggesting we should get rid
of all short term lets, but we want to rebalance
that between the short term lets and residential properties
here, particularly in the city center. Cammy
is now pushing to regulate holiday rentals. In parts of America, apartment rentals are banned
for any period less than 31 days. Taxes have been slapped on hosts
and guests to try and limit numbers. In Australia, some councils insist hosts
live within 20 kilometers and they've introduced
bizarre bans on clapping and singing to restrict party rentals. One of the big things has been complaints
about party flats. Yeah, I mean, people
complaining about antisocial behavior. Too many people in there. So what is Cammy's plan? So if you have a property that you're
looking to let on the market, to short term let, you'll need
a planning application for that. But you also need a license to operate
as a short term let property. In a world first, all holiday letting hosts in the country
will need a license to operate, and licenses will only be granted to properties
that adhere to strict criteria as laid out by local councils. Is there a danger here
that you're going to restrict the amount of accommodation available
for everybody that wants to come? I mean, we will take every application
as it comes, but undoubtedly this will mean a reduction
in the availability of some properties. What we're seeing is the city center
in particular has become saturated with short term lets, and we want to rebalance that so we can
have a living and thriving community here. That includes tourism. Tourism is one of Scotland's
biggest employers and an industry worth
almost 21 billion Australian dollars. Many holiday
letting hosts are furious with the changes and say the tourism industry
will collapse without them. Tourists
are not going to have as much choice because we are losing potentially
a couple of thousand properties like this and they're just going to have
a very different experience. As the number of Airbnb listings surge, hosts have come under fire, often called greedy investors
for profiting off dozens of properties and for living far away
from their listings. But this is not the case
for the majority of hosts. A former hospitality
worker, Fran has lived just off the Royal Mile
for the past 20 years. Today, she's getting ready
to host some guests in her one and only Airbnb property. Hello, Fran. Hello, Evan, come on in. This is it then?
Yes. It's lovely. It's
very bright, isn't it? From the outside. And then you've got um What's the big mountain over there? That's called Arthur’s Seat. Oh, is that famous, famous
Edinburgh landmark? It certainly is.
Great view, isn't it? Spectacular. So show me around a little bit. Come and have a look. Fran bought this one bedroom
apartment two years ago. It's now her sole source of income. So here's the bathroom. Right. Okay. Oh, nicely done. This is my investment
as I can't particularly work in the field I used to be in, which was catering
hospitality because of my back. So this is a much easier way
for me to get income. What's the other main reason
why you bought this one? How close are you? I live next door, friends. Fran's Airbnb is one apartment in a block of 18. It's a tenement or a close. Let's go and have a look. It's also in a tenement,
which means every apartment shares a common front door
and this stairwell. So is everybody happy with it? The fact that it's a Airbnb. Um, certainly the neighbors that I know are absolutely fine with it, yeah Well, okay, I see. So this is
these are all different apartments. That's right, yeah. So do you think there are problems
with Airbnbs in tenements like this? I mean, do you think there are issues
sometimes? Potentially, but you have to think a lot
of these flats are very, very small You know, there isn't a lot of room to
swing a cat, let alone have a big party. Yeah. And so do you think there should be
some regulation of Airbnbs? I think potentially, yes. In what way? Maybe it might be an idea that people are not allowed to own
perhaps more than five Airbnb? And regulating that, how would that change the way
that people use them? Maybe if you have 100 or 200 Airbnbs,
you are maybe not greeting your guests
and checking your guests. You know, there's an awful lot of people
who are like me who just have one property and, you know,
make sure that the people who go into it are going to respect it
and respect the neighbors. Because Fran's apartment
shares a stairwell and front door with these other apartments, she thinks she's unlikely
to get a license to operate as an Airbnb under the new regulations. So you pay, Ibelieve it's up to £700 for your planning permission
and generally it is being it's not being given.
Permission is not being given because this is a shared front door shared with other people. How many short term lights in Edinburgh
do you think are like this in tenements? A lot. An awful lot, yes. Because this is the way a tenement is basically how to pack
in a lot of people in a small space. And it is, you know,
that's what a lot of Edinburgh is. Hosts have until October to apply for planning permission
and a license. Fran's decided to give up Airbnb
and find long-term tenants. How does it feel to be now
in this situation? I have to say that
I've lost some of my enthusiasm about it. I'm one of the things that happens with the Airbnb
is that guests write you a review and I'm afraid that the last month
or so I've not written reviews back because it's got to stop. And I feel quite sad about that. I feel very sad about it actually. I've come to London to speak
with the general manager of Airbnb's Northern Europe Division, Amanda Cupples. Hi, Amanda? I'm Evan. Nice to meet you. Welcome. Welcome to our home. This is Airnb. This is the headquarters. She says while the company isn't averse
to regulation and registration, the licensing plan in Scotland
takes it too far. The idea that you need to be licensed
to open up your home we think is disproportionate and really, really burdensome on
these kind of everyday people. Most people don't know this. Around 80% of our hosts
are really ordinary, everyday hosts. The majority of hosts
actually open up their primary home. Now the fact that so disproportionately it's those people who are saying,
actually, I'm not going to host anymore, I think is sort of testament
to why this legislation is misdirected. Shouldn't they be licensed in a way to give the council
and and neighbors more control? We absolutely acknowledge and agree
that in some local areas it might be necessary,
it might be desirable to limit, you know, the type or the extent of short term letting activity
that takes place. It's not really for us to say
as to whether that's the right thing for a community.
At the end of the day, short term letting is only one input into what is a very, very complex problem,
which is housing. What do you think is going to be the long
term impact of Scotland pursuing this in the way
that they've so far outlined? These communities are going to be damaged. These families are going to be damaged. There's not another source of income
that they can turn to. We very much expect to see impact
in those rural communities where actually often tourism is the industry It supports the village pub,
it supports the village shop. All of that is put at risk
when you can't do that anymore. Outside of Edinburgh, the Hebrides has the highest density
of Airbnbs in the country. On islands like Tiree, The population triples in the summer
and the money they make during that time carries them through the long winter With tourists gone,
and the bad weather set in, we are told
this is when the unique housing problem is most visible. Our biggest challenge here at the moment is finding housing
for permanent residents. Rhoda Meeks is a crofter, councilor
and third generation islander. In the last couple of years, we've had teachers turned down jobs
because they can't find housing. We've had care staff unable to come and take up jobs
because, again, they can't find housing. And so that is enormously challenging for a small community. It's Friday night and I have arranged
to meet Rhoda at the pub. Rhoda echoes the concerns voiced by Airbnb and thinks the new legislation
could force hosts to remove their properties from the holiday,
letting market altogether. If we lose all of these short term lets. we have a massive impact
on our tourist economy. And we have a lot of businesses
in this island who rely on tourist
income through the summer to get them through the winter. Housing
is the number one issue for islanders. But Rhoda doesn't think short term
lets other main problem. And she's offered to show me
what she means the next day. Over the last year. This year, Tiree
has had over a meter of rain. We get plenty rain here in Scotland,
but that is, you know, knocking out of the park that. Pretty much every single house you're seeing as we go past
here is not permanently lived in. And, you know. And has that happened over
the more recent years? Just gradually, you know, attrition
rate, people moving away from work. Same here. Almost all of these are are our second
homes in one way, shape or form. Second homes or short term lets? Combination of the two.
Majority second home. But there's there's both. While the island struggles
to accommodate residents and workers, Over a third of houses on
the island are second homes, mostly owned by wealthy mainlanders who visit for
just a few weeks of the year. They aren't even listed on Airbnb and contribute
very little to tourism or the community. Rhoda has been documenting Tiree's
declining housing stocks for years and she wants to show me
this worrying research. So what you can see here is the east
end of the island, which is where I live. And just here the green lights are permanently lived in, and the red and orange lights are houses
that are not permanently lived in. 54% of our total stock is lived in and 46% is not permanent
lived in all year round. So that equates to 279 houses. That's a lot of houses. What's the percentage of places
that are short-term lets? So short-term lets It's about 16% of our total stock. And housing stock. When we actually sat down
and run the numbers, it was really interesting
to see that whilst short-term lets make up a reasonable percentage
of our housing stock. 16%. Actually, the bigger problem
here is the fact that there's so many houses sitting
and aren't used as much as they should be. With Tyree's housing crisis closely
linked to empty homes, there are fears
that the new Airbnb legislation might damage
the island's economy and housing stocks. Well, I'm worried we're going to see is people
whose houses maybe are needing some work, people for whom they don't need
to let, they're comfortably off. I can see those people saying I'm
just not going to let it. It's going to become a holiday house only. And those houses
are still not going to go back into community use. Tiree needs houses for short and long
term lets. But what they don't want is empty
second homes used only a couple of times a year. And there's a lot at stake
if they don't deal with that problem. It's going to be like a wet desert around
here. We're not going to have
the people in communities. We're not going to have folk
looking at each other that you need here. We're losing our language. We're using our culture, and we're going to see things
hollowed out, completely hollowed out. Back in Edinburgh,
the new legislation appears to be having the desired effect. Fran's property is now back on the long-term rental market, albeit reluctantly. Much as I don't want to say
this, it's not my problem. I'm not building houses. I'm not, you know,
I'm not renting to students. And I don't want to be
part of the bandage. The council is asking us to be
I want to be able to as I own this property,
I want to be able to have the people in that I want. But at a time when the world is still
figuring out how to manage the online holiday letting phenomenon, Cammy
is committed to finding the balance. We've got a huge number of people
desperate to find housing in Edinburgh and I would rather
they lived in the houses rather than having them issued as
short-term lets. It's not a ban on anything. Let's be sensitive
and sensible to manage the city center more effectively while we can responsibly
grow tourism and I suppose reinvigorate the communities
that have been here for generations.
