What does the evidence actually say about Short-Term Lets (STLs) in Edinburgh? The narrative is that STLs are hollowing out communities, causing widespread nuisance, and driving the housing crisis. The licensed STL register and council data tell a more nuanced story. 📍@Edinburgh_CC claimed to there were 12,000 STLs. The current licensed register shows: • 5,640 licensed STLs in total, of which;
• 2,300 secondary lets (entire property)
• 1,271 home lets
• 872 home shares
• 1,197 home let & share 👉Most licensed STLs are not entire properties dedicated solely to tourism, and there are far fewer than claimed 📍Are STLs "hollowing out communities"? The register shows: • 331 buildings have more than one secondary let
• 975 secondary-let licences across those buildings
• That's an average of fewer than 3 per building The biggest concentrations are serviced apartment blocks: • Western Harbour Midway (25)
• 129 High Street (13)
• Thistle Street SW Lane (11)
• 27 Home Street (11)
• 9 South St Andrew Street (11)💰💸💴These large serviced-apartment developments were approved by Edinburgh Council itself. Many owned by foreign investors, and there are more coming 💰💸💵🤔 👉If community cohesion is being affected, the evidence points more towards purpose-built serviced apartment blocks than small, locally owned short-term lets. 📍What about "party flats"? Of 11,000 noise complaints recorded in 2009, only 41 were linked to short-term lets. More strikingly, 22 of those 41 complaints came from a single property. 👉That suggests a very small number of problematic operators rather than a city-wide STL nuisance problem. 📍What about the housing crisis? There is still no clear evidence that Edinburgh's STL restrictions have: • Increased affordable housing supply
• Reduced rents
• Reduced house prices At the same time, hundreds of council-owned homes remain empty and uninhabitable. 📍The licensing regime was intended to improve safety and regulation. Instead: • Many operators have left the licensed market and are operating illegally 
• Compliant operators who applied for planning permission have faced very high refusal rates- easier targets for @Edinburgh_CC 
• Only 12 enforcement cases have reportedly been referred/actioned Questions remain about whether the system is achieving its intended objectives. 📍📍Meanwhile, Edinburgh Council has spent around £400k of taxpayer’s money defending STL policies in court, losing multiple legal challenges, with further litigation expected 📍📍 Public policy should be evidence-led, proportionate, and focused on genuine problem properties rather than broad assumptions. The data suggests Edinburgh's STL debate is more complicated than the headlines. The real challenge may be balancing tourism, housing and community interests without targeting responsible operators who are not causing measurable harm. #SaveSC @thecockburn @PLACEEdinburgh @bbcandrewpicken @deadlinenews @vickimillerVS @adamtomforrest @CBI_Scotland @SCOTOnetwork @stephenjardine @briandonnellyHT @collarbrodies @licensinglaws @stvnews @stvsharon @montaukian @mediawummin @RhodaFMorrison @donaldturvill @heraldscotland @bbcscotlandnews @edinburghpaper