Running a holiday let in Scotland

Plenty of people in Scotland let a cottage, a flat or a room to visitors.

Hosts need a short-term let licence from their council before they take bookings or welcome guests. These notes cover the licence, the safety rules, planning, and the visitor levies some councils have brought in.

The short-term let licence

A licence usually lasts for 3 years.

The type of licence depends on whether the host lives there. A secondary letting licence covers a place where the host does not normally live, such as a second home. Home sharing, home letting, and a combined licence cover lets of the host's own home.

Hosts apply through their council's website. Some situations need no licence, such as a caravan on a licensed holiday site or a bothy. Hosts who are unsure can use the licence checker on mygov.scot.

Running a short-term let without a licence is a criminal offence. A host can be fined up to £2,500 and banned from applying for a year.

Safety conditions

Every licensed let has to meet a set of mandatory conditions. The property meets the repairing and tolerable standards and has suitable smoke, heat and carbon monoxide alarms. Furniture and furnishings meet the safety regulations.

Hosts also hold the paperwork.

A gas safety certificate from the last 12 months.
An Electrical Installation Condition Report and a portable appliance testing report.
Buildings insurance and public liability insurance.
An Energy Performance Certificate from the last 10 years, when letting a whole house or flat.

The person in charge carries out a fire risk assessment and a Legionella risk assessment. The council and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service set the most guests the property can take.

Planning and control areas

Starting a short-term let in an existing building can need planning permission, if the planning authority sees it as a material change of use. A council can also make a short-term let control area. There are two today, covering the whole City of Edinburgh Council area and Badenoch and Strathspey in Highland.

A new let inside a control area is very likely to need planning permission.

Visitor levies

Councils in Scotland now have the power to add a visitor levy to the cost of a stay. Each council sets its own scheme. Hosts collect the levy from guests, show it in their prices, keep records and pay it to the council.

VisitScotland listed five approved schemes on 9 September 2026.

Edinburgh, 5% on the first five nights, for stays from 24 July 2026.
Glasgow, 5%, for stays from 25 January 2027.
Aberdeen, 7%, for stays from 1 April 2027.
Stirling, 3%, for stays from 14 June 2027.
West Dunbartonshire, 5%, for stays from 1 July 2027.

Dundee, Falkirk, Highland, and Perth and Kinross councils were consulting on schemes in autumn 2026.

Business rates or council tax

A self-catering property pays business rates when it is nobody's main home and is let commercially. In each financial year it must be available to let for at least 140 nights and let for at least 70. Owners send evidence to the local assessor, usually by 26 May. Without it, the property goes on the council tax list for that year.