£50,000 if you move house … to an island

Here’s a new way to encourage house moves - pay the potential vendor £50,000.

The Scottish Government is launching an official consultation on the idea, which proposes to pay up to £50,000 to owners on the Scottish mainland who may want to move to specific islands.

£5m is being made available via a bond - enough to pay 100 households £50,000 each -  in a bid to tackle population decline across the Scottish islands and provide funding to help people stay on or move to the islands.

The consultation will run for 12 weeks.

Islands Secretary Mairi Gougeon says: “The Islands Bond will help us to deliver on some of the commitments from the National Islands Plan. It’s a way for us to address some of the key financial barriers for people who want to live on our islands.

“Each of our islands are unique and this consultation will help us understand some of the population challenges across our islands and make sure that we can properly address them. It will also provide information to enable us to set up a relocation support or advisory service and make the move for people as smooth as possible.

“I’d encourage people across Scotland, especially those on our islands, to provide a response to this consultation and make sure their voices are heard to help shape the Bond.

“As well as delivering this consultation, we’ll continue to engage with local authorities, island communities and other relevant stakeholders as we develop the bond.”