Licences in operation: local areas

Table 3 shows that local authorities with the highest numbers of total licences (provisional or granted) and exemptions in operation as of 30 June 2024 include Highland, Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, and Fife which together account for nearly half (10,250 or 49%) of all licences in operation as of 30 June 2024.

However, there may be applications eligible for a provisional licence where the application was not validated by 30 June 2024 and therefore not reported in this publication.

Table 3: Total licences (granted or provisional) in operation as of 30 June 2024 by local authority

16% (2,630) of the 16,515 full licences granted were with additional conditions. Na h-Eileanan Siar (33%; 855) and Argyll & Bute (33%; 869) accounted for most of these licences. Local Authorities can set out additional conditions to short term let properties. The additional conditions for Na h-Eileanan Siar and Argyll & Bute can be found on the local authority website guidance pages. Examples include prevention of nuisance and disturbance conditions. Please refer to Table 9 in the supporting excel file for more information.

Map 2: Number of active licences for short term letting per 10,000 dwellings, up to June 2024

Map 2 shows the number of active licences and exemptions (including provisional licences). The distribution is roughly similar to the number of applications, with rural locations popular with tourists having the highest rates.

Table 12 in the supporting documents Excel workbook lists the number of licences in operation by individual data zone area. A total of 3,077 data zones have had at least one licence or exemption in operation of 30 June 2024, which equates to 45% of the total 6,796 data zones in Scotland.