Short term lets - licensing scheme part 2: supplementary guidance for licensing authorities, letting agencies and platforms

Licensing guidance part 2 is intended for Scottish licensing authorities, letting agencies and platforms facilitating short-term lets in Scotland. An update will follow The Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) Amendment Order 2024 coming into effect.


Annex C - Licence number specification

The licence number will comprise 20 characters, four of which are alphabet (capital letters) and 16 of which are digits (D):

A1A2-DDDD-DDDD-DDDD-DDDD-A3A4

The leading two characters (A1A2) will identify the licensing authority:

Aberdeen City

AC

Aberdeenshire

AS

Angus

AN

Argyll and Bute

AR

Clackmannanshire

CL

Dumfries and Galloway

DG

Dundee

DD

East Ayrshire

EA

East Dunbartonshire

ED

East Lothian

EL

East Renfrewshire

ER

Edinburgh

EH

Falkirk

FK

Fife

FI

Glasgow

GL

Highland

HI

Inverclyde

IN

Midlothian

ML

Moray

MO

Na h-Eileanan Siar

ES

North Ayrshire

NA

North Lanarkshire

NL

Orkney

OR

Perth and Kinross

PK

Renfrewshire

RN

Scottish Borders

SB

Shetland

SH

South Ayrshire

SA

South Lanarkshire

SL

Stirling

ST

West Dunbartonshire

WD

West Lothian

WL

The 16 digits will be generated by an algorithm which will include certain validation and authentication checks.

The penultimate character (A3) will denote the type of short-term let to which the licence relates:

H

Home sharing and home letting

S

Secondary letting

The final character (A4) will denote the type of “licence”:

E

Temporary exemption

T

Temporary licence

P

Provisional licence number issued on receipt of a licence application

F

First (full) licence

R

Renewed licence

Example

A C - 1 3 4 7 - 2 9 6 7 - 8 4 4 4 - 1 3 2 1 - H E

This number relates to a temporary exemption (E) for home sharing or home letting (H) in Aberdeen City (AC).

Contact

Email: shorttermlets@gov.scot

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