Western Isles has highest rate of short-term lets in Scotland

Western Isles has highest rate of short-term lets in Scotland

As of the end of last year, the local authority with the highest rate of short-term lets in their area was Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Western Isles Council).

The local authority had 707 short-term lets per 10,000 dwellings, while the area with the lowest rate was East Renfrewshire, with 10 short-term lets per 10,000 dwellings.

Overall, in Scotland there were 118 active short term lets licences per 10,000 dwellings.

This is according to the latest figures published by the Scottish Government.

Short-term lets include holiday-homes, bed and breakfasts, and other small holiday properties.

The figures revealed that since the short-term let licensing scheme was introduced in Scotland (October 2022) there have been at least 42,355 applications for a short-term licence received by local authorities as of end December 2025. Of which, 40,434 were validated applications.

As of 31 December 2025, 90% of all validated applications were granted a licence (including lapsed and superseded licences), and 4% of the applications were pending determination.

A small minority of applications were withdrawn, refused, or suspended (6%).

The majority (25,131 or 78%) of active short term lets licences relate to secondary letting (i.e. where a non-primary residence is let out), with 3,354 (10%) being for home sharing, 2,106 (7%) for home letting, and 1,726 (5%) for a mixture of home sharing and letting.

Join over 10,700 housing professionals in receiving our FREE daily email newsletter
Share icon
Share this article: