Short-term lets: regulation information

The law around short-term lets changed on 1 October 2022. New hosts are required to obtain a short-term let licence before accepting bookings or receiving guests.

Licensing scheme

The short-term lets licensing scheme is mandatory for all short-term let accommodation across Scotland, including holiday cottages, B&Bs, guest houses, rooms within a home and unconventional accommodation such as pods and yurts. A licence is required, regardless of how long you let the accommodation for. It could be one night or several months.

You must obtain a licence from your local council to operate a short-term let property in Scotland. When you apply for a short-term let licence, to avoid it being refused, you must ensure your application contains all the required information.

To find out more, you can read the Short-term lets licensing scheme guide or use the Short-term lets checker tool on the mygov.scot site to see if you need a licence and what type of licence you need. 

If you applied to the scheme before 1 October 2023 and were trading before October 2022 you can continue operating while the council considers your application. This transitional licensing period for existing short-term let hosts will shortly finish. If your council has not processed your application by the end of the 12 months from when you applied, it will advise you what will happen next. This will either involve: refusing your application (if your application is incomplete), deeming your application granted for a year (while it finishes considering your application) or seeking an extension to its processing time from the courts.

Short-term let control areas

Each local council has published a short-term let policy that sets out the mandatory conditions and any additional conditions for the council area.

Councils have the power to designate control areas to manage high concentrations of short-term lets. Edinburgh became Scotland’s first designated short-term let control area on 5 September 2022 and Highland Council designated the Badenoch and Strathspey Ward on 4 March 2024.

In a control area, mandatory condition 13, which relates to planning, may be relevant to your licensing application if a change of use to a short-term let requires planning permission under the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997. If so, you must have made an application for planning permission that has not yet been determined or already have planning permission before you apply for a licence. If you changed your accommodation to a short-term let before the short-term let control area was designated, the relevant planning authority will consider, on a case-by-case basis, whether the change of use is material.  Further guidance about planning is available below.

Details of short-term let licence applications are available via council public registers. These are updated at least quarterly. The legislation provides a number of exemptions. You should check guidance to see if this applies to you.

Related information

• Mygov guidance for operators
• Short-term lets licensing guide part 1: guidance for hosts and operators
• Short term lets licensing guide part 2: supplementary guidance for licensing authorities, letting agencies and platforms

• Short-Term Let Licensing Implementation Update Report 2024