Scottish Short-Term Lets: Licensing, Control Areas and HMRC Tax (2026)

Scotland-only guide to short-term let licensing under the 2022 Order, control areas, mandatory safety conditions, and how HMRC taxes STL income after the FHL regime was abolished on 6 April 2025. Sourced from gov.scot, legislation.gov.uk and HMRC manuals only.

Key facts (sourced) - Licence required for every STL in Scotland since 1 October 2023 — Licensing of Short-term Lets Order 2022. - Maximum penalty for operating without a licence: £2,500 on summary conviction + 1-year reapplication bar — Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982, Sch 1 §7. - Edinburgh = short-term let control area since 5 September 2022 — secondary letting needs planning permission for change of use. - Licence number must appear on every listing — Schedule 3 of the 2022 Order.

Scotland only. This guide covers short-term lets (STLs) in Scotland. England, Wales and Northern Ireland operate under different rules. If your property is outside Scotland, this guide does not apply.

Short-term lets in Scotland are one of the most heavily regulated parts of UK property letting. Since 1 October 2023, every host offering an STL anywhere in Scotland must hold a licence from their local council, and operating without one is a criminal offence. On top of that, the UK-wide Furnished Holiday Lettings (FHL) tax regime was abolished on 6 April 2025, which fundamentally changes how HMRC taxes Scottish STL income.

This guide pulls together the current Scottish licensing framework and the HMRC tax treatment in one place, using only gov.scot, legislation.gov.uk and HMRC manuals as sources.

1. Who needs a Scottish STL licence

The statutory basis is the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) Order 2022, made under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982.

A short-term let is, in summary, the use of residential accommodation provided by a host in the course of business to a guest, where the guest does not use it as their only or principal home. That captures almost all Airbnb-style lets, holiday cottages, serviced apartments and B&Bs across Scotland.

Key dates from the gov.scot short-term lets licensing overview:

• 1 October 2022 — scheme opens; new hosts must apply before accepting bookings.
• 1 October 2023 — every host (new and existing) operating in Scotland must hold a licence.
• Renewals — standard licences last up to 3 years; temporary licences last up to 6 weeks.

Operating without a licence is a criminal offence. The maximum penalty on summary conviction is a £2,500 fine, and a person convicted of an offence cannot reapply for a licence for one year (Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982, schedule 1, paragraph 7).

2. The four licence types

The 2022 Order defines four activity types. Your council will issue a licence covering one or more:

| Licence type | What it covers | |