Question on Scottish Property

[Navahmed]

Hello, everyone! I own a property in Scotland which I intend to rent to a charity that offers short term breaks/respites for adults with disabilities. This means a different person will be sleeping in the house for a few nights every week, including 1-2 carers.

Currently the property is a class 9 use and I would prefer to keep it this way. See the class 9 definition below:

Use -

1. as a house, other than a flat, whether or not as a sole or main residence, by-

1. a single person or by people living together as a family, or
2. not more than 5 residents living together including a household where care is provided for residents;

1. as a bed and breakfast establishment or guesthouse, not in either case being carried out in a flat where at any one time not more than 2 bedrooms are, or in the case of premises having less than 4 bedrooms 1 bedroom is, used for that purpose.

The idea is to go for option 2b - a guesthouse where at any one time not more than 2 bedrooms are used.
So far so good.

The issue we have is this - we do not know if the accommodation needs a Short Term Let licence - this was introduced at the end of 2022 in Scotland. There's a Check link provided by the Scot Gov and we got stuck at the following question:

Is the accommodation any of the following?
an aparthotel

premises which has a licence to sell alcohol under the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005

a hotel which has planning permission granted for use as a hotel

a hostel

residential accommodation where personal care is provided to residents

a hospital or nursing home

a residential school, college or training centre

secure residential accommodation (including a prison, young offenders institution,detention centre, secure training centre, custody centre, short-term holding centre, secure hospital, secure local authority accommodation, or accommodation used as military barracks)

a refuge

student accommodation

accommodation which needs a licence for use for hire for overnight stays

accommodation which is provided by the guest

accommodation which can be used as transport, without needing modification

a bothy


I have underlined the two options which might fit but I am not sure if that is the case

Option 1:
residential accommodation where personal care is provided to residents - would this apply to a Guesthouse? In other words, can I lease my property to the Charity as a Guesthouse and they use it as residential accommodation to provide personal care to residents, in which case no Short Term Licence is needed?
I am not sure if residents are seen as people who live there all the time or on a temporary basis as well - this is my dilemma on option 1.

Option 2:
accommodation which is provided by the guest - if I was to lease the Guesthouse to the charity and they would be my only Guest - and they would then provide accommodation to their disabled service users, would this be classed as Accommodation which is provided by the guest ?


Has anyone been in a similar situation? Any reply would be much appreciated.
Thank you!

 

[MBE2017]

Since there are differences between English and Scottish law, I would recommend a quick call to a suitable solicitor, who should be able to also provide you with a suitable corporate let agreement.

 

[Evelynbrown]

If you are unsure about Scottish law, you can search for it online or contact a professional estate agent. They can provide you with all the legal information you need.

 

[IanSuth]

If you get nowhere - I have an old client who runs 2 businesses, 1 is legal practice mgt software and the other is software for letting agents, he is scottish based and his products are SOLAS accredited so he will likely know someone.

PM me if you need me to ask