Short Term Lets Licensing Statistics Scotland to 31 December 2025

Key Points

• 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• As of 31 December 2025, 90% of all validated applications were granted a licence (including lapsed and superseded licences), and 4% of the applications were pending determination. A small minority of applications were withdrawn, refused, or suspended (6%).
• 32,317 licences (including temporary) and exemptions were in operation as of 31 December 2025.
• Overall, in Scotland there were 118 active short term lets licences per 10,000 dwellings. The highest rate was in Na h-Eileanan Siar (707) and the lowest rate in East Renfrewshire (10).
• 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. [Table 13]
• At least 87,718 bedrooms and a total maximum occupancy of 171,768 people were reported in the licences or exemptions in operation granted.