Living Rent, Scotland’s tenants’ union, will this Friday hold a protest outside A Flat In Town, a letting agency in Edinburgh offering holiday lets of up to five months.
In 2016, the Scottish Government replaced previous “short-assured” tenancies with indefinite rental contracts in an effort to grant tenants much more security and make it harder for landlords to evict their renters.
However, Living Rent claim they have seen evidence of landlords and letting agents avoiding this regulation by classing their properties as “holiday lets.”
In a Facebook event set up by Living Rent, the organisers said:
"We’re going to stage a holiday-themed action outside their office to make the point that tenants are not on holiday and deserve (and are legally entitled to!) all the protections of a Private Rented Tenancy (as opposed to these sham short-term lets), as well as expose their illegal fees."
The tenants’ union published a report earlier this month on the abuse of “holiday let” contracts, outlining that:
"These holiday let leases afford tenants almost none of the protections tenants would be guaranteed under Short-Assured Tenancies or Scottish Private Residential Tenancies; neither landlords nor agencies operating on their behalf need to register; properties are exempt from HMO licensing; tenants aren’t entitled to third-party protection of their deposits; the properties are not subject to the same standards in terms of fire safety and repairs; and it is significantly easier to evict someone from a holiday let."
Emma McGillivray, a member of Living Rent taking part in the protest, said:
"The new, better contracts were hard won by tenants up and down Scotland, demanding better rights and better protections from eviction, and it is appalling for this letting agency to simply decide none of that applies to them."
Location: 36 East Claremont St, Edinburgh EH7 4JR
Time: 12:30 - 14:30
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