Campaigners are calling for party flats to be banned and new laws brought in to restrict the number of occupants allowed for short term lets. This is because of the increasing number of revellers organising stag and hen parties, which are both disturbing and keeping neighbours awake all night.
As many as fifteen people are being regularly crammed into two and three bedroom city centre properties which are being marketed by letting agencies who are hoping to attract what is a lucrative market in both Edinburgh and Glasgow. Landlords are earning around £600 a night for the flats which are located in the city centres and close to the bars and nightclubs. Property owners with landlord insurance can earn more by renting the property per night then they can for having a full time tenant paying them monthly.
Residents believe that any property which shares an entrance stairwell with other private dwellings needs to be regulated by the authorities in the same way as a long let apartment has to be. Large groups are also packed into the flats during the Edinburgh Festival when landlords can charge even more because accommodation in the city is always at a premium.
A spokesman for the Scottish Association of Landlords said: “Some owners were buying properties specifically for this purpose. Unlike the long-term letting market, they are not governed by any legislation and they can pack as many people as they like into a small flat. Obviously anyoneliving anywhere can have a party, but the difference with this, for flats that are catering specifically for the market, is that there are parties going on every night that there are people renting the flats.”
The problem is believed to be growing as properties that are not given a license under the HMO (Houses of Multiple Occupancy) regulations are instead being turned into a party flat by the landlord.