Edinburgh urged to copy Barcelona’s ban on Airbnb-style rentals

[Edinburgh](https://inews.co.uk/topic/edinburgh?ico=in-line_link) should bring in a [Barcelona-style ban on short-term holiday rentals listed](https://inews.co.uk/news/world/barcelona-reveals-plans-to-scrap-holiday-rentals-by-2028-3125842?ico=in-line_link) on platforms such as[ Airbnb](https://inews.co.uk/topic/airbnb?ico=in-line_link), housing campaigners have said.

The Spanish city’s mayor announced last month that it would phase out all holiday rentals by 2028 in a bid to boost [residents’ access to housing](https://inews.co.uk/opinion/tourism-is-eating-barcelona-alive-3129104?ico=in-line_link).

With Edinburgh facing a [housing crisis](https://inews.co.uk/topic/housing-crisis?ico=in-line_link), the Living Rent tenants’ union told **i** that it wanted Edinburgh City Council to introduce a similar crackdown to bring [thousands of holiday homes in the Scottish capital](https://inews.co.uk/opinion/tourists-wrecked-edinburgh-need-feel-uncomfortable-3177347?ico=in-line_link) back into residential use.

According to the Office for National Statistics, [Edinburgh was the most popular town or city ](https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/travel/edinburgh-cheapest-inbetweener-season-2926376?ico=in-line_link)in the UK to visit outside of London in 2023, with 2.3 million visits.

But the short-term let industry says it is being scapegoated while Airbnb said the city’s housing shortage was down to not enough properties being built.

Eilidh Keay, Living Rent’s Edinburgh chair, said: “What Barcelona is doing is a really good step – we should move towards banning short-term lets in Edinburgh.

“An outright ban, or at least something that brings about a significant reduction in Airbnb-type lets, would be the best way forward,” she added. “The housing emergency means we need to think more radically.”

The call comes as controversy continues over the new licensing regulations imposed by Edinburgh council on short-term let operators in 2023 to stop so many flats being let to tourists.

AirBnB is a problem, but it isn’t *the* problem. Not in Edinburgh, and not in Barcelona. What’s more, this current wave of “blame tourists” is a practical scapegoat for local governing bodies to wash their hands of the fundamental complicity that they have had in creating the underlying issues in the housing market in these places.

Additionally, we *know* tourists aren’t the primary driving cause of this, as we’re seeing equally high housing price rises in non-tourist areas and cities.

I understand why local governments are playing this fiddle. They’ve fucked the pooch, and want off the hook from their constituents. They have not spent enough on housing projects, failed to effectively squash NIMBY-ism and allowed big investment corporations to buy up huge swathes of new housing.

I am no fan of AirBnB, but it isn’t the problem *really*.

Take Barcelona as a prime example. It has a population of 1.6M, and around 15-20k AirBnB rentals. If you banned AirBnB, and all those houses returned to the market, you’d probably deal with the housing shortage for a year, maybe two.

And then you’re back at square one. There just isn’t the market impact of AirBnB that people think there is.

According to this article there are around 4,600 air BNB rentals in Edinburgh… This is in a population of half a million people.

So yeah, holiday rentals are not the root cause of our chronic housing shortage. There is just not enough supply because demand keeps rising (because of rising population, which is increasing due to large migration inflows)

Interesting thread to read.

There is something very clear … there is a severe lack of social housing and this has been so for a considerable number of years, more than a decade even .

Stock isn’t necessarily being replaced , in fact old stock is being sold off

There has become and increasing issue with regards to landlords who have opted to turn their normal rental into an AirBnB. I can see the business sense in doing so.. but it happens at such scale in certain areas that it actually does impact the availability of shorthold tenancies.

It needs balance.

You should be able to rent out your own flat when you go on holiday. It helps. But I understand it’s hard to enforce.