Short Term Lets Licensing Statistics Scotland to 31 December 2023

Short Term Let – for the purposes of this report the meaning of a Short Term Let encompasses the licences that form the licensing scheme as set out in the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) Order 2022.

In general a short term let can be considered to be where a property is being rented but is not the primary residence of the people renting it, although the exact scope of lets covered by the Order may differ to this, for example lets related to premises which are already covered by any other existing licensing schemes such as for caravan parks or alcohol licences may be excluded.

The Short Term Lets Licensing Data Collection Specification sets outs information on the different categories used within the data collection, which includes that:

Licence types are split into:

• Full Licences are a standard licence for short-term letting and have not been renewed. This includes both applications from new hosts, as well as formerly provisional licences which have been granted by the licensing authority to existing hosts in operation prior to 1st October 2022.
• Renewed licence are licences which have been renewed by the applicant
• Provisional licences are issued to existing short term let providers (for application received prior to 1st October 2023) for properties that were let prior to 1st October 2022 and allow them to continue operating until a decision is made by the licensing authority
• Temporary licences can be granted by the licensing authority for a duration that does not exceed six weeks.
• Temporary exemptions from the requirements to a licence can also be granted by a licensing authority.

The main forms of short-term letting include:

• Home Sharing are where an owner of a property lets out a room or rooms in their primary residence while they are living in the property.
• Home Letting are where an owner of a property lets out their primary residence while they are staying elsewhere.
• Secondary Letting are where an owner of a property does not normally stay at the property which they are letting out, i.e. where an owner’s non-primary residence is let out.

The different possible status of a licence applications include:

• Granted - no additional conditions, where the application has been granted, with no additional conditions other than those mandatory conditions which are required by legislation.
• Granted - with additional conditions, where the application has been granted, with additional conditional added along with those mandatory conditions required by legislation.
• Withdrawn, where the application has been withdrawn by the applicant.
• Pending determination, where the application is being determined by the licensing authority
• Revoked, where the licence was granted, but subsequently revoked
• Lapsed, where the licence was granted, but has expired without renewal
• Suspended, where the licence was granted, but has been suspended
• Refused, where the application was refused licence by the local authority
• Invalid, where the application did not contain sufficient information for determination.

The types of premises which the application can be for include:

• Detached house
• Semi-detached house
• Terraced house
• Self-contained flat
• Unconventional dwelling (which includes yurts, camping pods, caravans (excluding those located within licensed caravan sites) used mainly for holiday lets. ie. any accommodation requiring a licence that is not a dwelling or house.