Following a fight to get covid funding during last year’s pandemic, and similar grant struggles this time, they are also now worried about a new ruling from the Scottish Government.
A licence scheme is being proposed to regulate Short Term Lets (STL) to tackle ‘unregulated’ holiday accommodation.
It would cover premises offering short term stays, including B and Bs, but not guest houses.
Mark Burton runs the 29 Well Street bed and breakfast in Moffat with wife Dawn, both pictured, and he believes the move could end up with his premises and others closing down.
He said: “Whilst we fully support the idea, the ruling has been devised in a way that B&Bs are included, but guest houses are not – even though we provide exactly the same council regulated service.
“This means that we are going to be faced with huge bills for potential building upgrades etc and, more worryingly, an annual bill of £2000+ for the privilege of being able to open to guests.
“This, on top of everything else we have to pay and what we are still going through with covid, will inevitably mean many of us will just have to close our doors.”
He criticised the Scottish Government for failing to consult the sector, saying: “We have only recently been made aware of the implications for us. In fact we have very little time left to raise our objections.
“This will have a serious impact on the amount of accommodation available for tourists when they start returning, purely because many of us will have had to close our doors due to cost.”
Sharing his concerns are Caroline Egan and Miles Hargreaves, of Queensberry House in Moffat.
In a letter to Scottish Finance Secretary Kate Forbes, they said: “The proposed licence should be used to address the issues caused by unsupervised accommodation, for example AirBnB properties, rather than penalising all businesses in the same way.
“We run a legitimate business – it is not a sideline nor a hobby – and it is run in exactly the same way as our competitors – guest houses and hotels.
“The proposed licence does not distinguish between these short term lets and micro businesses such as ours. Our B&B is a bona fide operation that has business insurance and which is inspected by industry bodies such as Visit Scotland, Dumfries and Galloway council food hygiene department and the NHS HealthyLiving team.”
They pointed out the licence fees would be ‘astronomical’ for a sector hard hit by covid, adding: “We are still reeling from the financial effects of the pandemic. This is hardly the time to impose such a hefty charge.
“We have had no income since early October and face a bleak immediate future.
“The fact that this is being proposed right in the middle of a pandemic is seriously flawed. The tourism industry in general – we have experienced this firsthand both within our B&B and our local town – has been devastated.”
They too have not been part of any official consultation, but say the consequences to them would be huge.
Caroline went on: “This extra financial burden will make our business unviable and many others too. The knock on effect to the local and wider economy will be substantial.
“If this proposed licence goes ahead we would have to seriously consider if we can continue trading as a B&B.”
