Short Term Lets Licensing Statistics Scotland to 31 March 2023

Status of applications received

Of the 2,587 valid applications received by local authorities by 31 March 2023, 950 (37%) had been granted as at end March 2023. Of these 950 applications granted, 740 were for applications received during October to December 2022 and 210 for applications received during January to March 2023.

Of the 950 applications granted, 848 had been granted without condition. Of these 848 applications, 679 were received in October to December 2022, and 169 of were received in January to March 2023.

A further 102 valid applications were granted with additional conditions. Of these, 61 were applications received in October to December 2022, and 41 were applications received in January to March 2023

A total of 1,625 (63%) of valid applications received were pending determination as at 31 March 2023, of which 433 had been received during October to December 2022 and 1,192 received during January to March 2023.

A total of 12 (0.5%) of applications received had been withdrawn as at 31 March 2023, and none had been refused, revoked, suspended or lapsed.

Chart 2 below illustrates the numbers of applications received by 31 March 2023 by status.

Chart 2: Status of applications as at 31 March 2023, by quarter received

Table C in the supporting Excel document provides information on the number of applications received by each local authority by status as at 31 March 2023.

This shows that of the 848 applications approved with no additional conditions, 396 of these were in Highland, 203 were in Dumfries & Galloway, 81 were in Fife and 40 were in Perth and Kinross.

Of the 102 applications granted with additional conditions, 85% of these were in Na h-Eileanan Siar (87), where the local authority have set out as part of their licencing policy statement three additional conditions which will apply to all short-term let properties[1], covering conditions around solid or liquid fuel fires or boilers, prevention of nuisance and disturbance, and equipment provided for guests.

Of the 12 withdrawn applications, five were in Glasgow City, and three were in The City of Edinburgh, with the remaining in Orkney (2), Perth and Kinross (1), and South Ayrshire (1).

As at 31 March 2023, authorities who had reported that all (i.e. 100%) of valid applications received by end March 2023 were still to be determined included Angus, Midlothian, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire, Scottish Borders and South Lanarkshire. Authorities with the highest proportions of applications granted (either with or without additional conditions) included Na h-Eileanan Siar (74%), Dumfries and Galloway (47%), Perth and Kinross (46%) and Highland (43%).

Scotland summary, table D, in the supporting Excel workbook provides information on the status of applications by the quarter that the decision was made. This shows that very few (14) applications granted were decided during October to December 2022, with most (936) of the total of 950 applications granted having been decided during January to March 2023.