Can I Sell a Property in Scotland That Is Used as a Short-Term Let or Airbnb?

Perhaps you bought a flat in Edinburgh to let to festival visitors, or you have been running a cottage in the Highlands on Airbnb for years. Now the numbers no longer stack up, the licensing paperwork has become a burden, or you simply want your money back out of the property. The question is whether you can sell it while it is still being used as a holiday let, and what a buyer and their solicitor will expect from you.

Licences, planning permission, business rates, title deeds and lender rules all come into play. None of them stops a sale, but each can slow it down if it is not dealt with early.

The short answer is yes, you can sell a property in Scotland that is used as a short-term let or Airbnb. What changes is the paperwork. A buyer who wants to keep letting will need the licence transferred to them or their own licence, and may need planning permission in a control area such as Edinburgh. A buyer who wants a home will need to know the letting has stopped cleanly. Either way, your solicitor will need to show the licence, planning and rates position clearly.

Can I sell my Airbnb or holiday let while it is still operating?

Yes. Nothing requires a short-term let to stop trading before it goes on the market, and many owners keep taking bookings so the income covers running costs during the sale.

The practical question is who you are selling to. An investor may value a trading history and an existing licence. A buyer who wants to live there will want vacant possession on the date of entry, with no guests booked after it. Knowing which buyer you are aiming at shapes how you handle bookings, furniture and the licence.

If your property has been let on a longer term basis to a tenant rather than to holiday guests, that is a different situation with different rules. Our guide on how to sell a rental property in Scotland covers private residential tenancies.

What type of short-term let licence do I have?

The licensing scheme has four licence types, and the one you hold matters when you sell. The definitions below follow the mygov.scot guidance on types of short-term let licence.

Licence type	What it covers	What it means when you sell
Secondary letting	Letting accommodation where you do not normally live, such as a holiday flat or cottage	The most common type for investment properties. An investor buyer will want it transferred or will need their own.
Home sharing	Letting all or part of your own home while you are living there	Tied to you living in the property. A buyer would need their own licence if they intend to do the same.
Home letting	Letting all or part of your own home while you are not there, for example while you are on holiday	Also tied to the property being your home, so it has little value to a buyer.
Home letting and home sharing	A combination of both, letting your home at times when you are there and at times when you are not	As above. The buyer would need to apply on their own circumstances.

Have the licence document ready, showing the number, type, maximum occupancy, any special conditions and the expiry date, because your solicitor will ask for it early.

Does a short-term let licence transfer to the buyer?

Not automatically. Originally a licence could not move with a sale, but the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) Amendment Order 2024, which came into force on 30 August 2024, lets the licence holder apply to the council to transfer it into another person’s name.

In practice:

• The application is made by you, the current licence holder, not by the buyer. Councils such as Aberdeenshire say the transfer should be made before the property is sold.
• The council notifies Police Scotland, who have 28 days to object. If there is no objection, the council must grant the transfer.
• Councils charge a fee and usually ask for up to date safety documents and insurance in the new host’s name.
• Only the remaining term of the existing licence transfers, on the same type and occupancy. Any changes need a fresh application.

If no transfer is arranged, the buyer is treated as a new host. Scottish Government guidance is clear that new hosts must obtain a licence before accepting bookings or receiving guests. The arrangement that let existing hosts trade while their application was considered covered only those operating before 1 October 2022 who applied before 1 October 2023, so it does not help a buyer today.

What is a short-term let control area and does it affect my sale?

A control area is a zone designated by a council, with approval from Scottish Ministers, under the planning legislation. Inside it, using a whole dwelling that is not your main home as a short-term let is deemed to be a material change of use, which means it needs planning permission. This is separate from the licence, so a property can hold a licence and still breach planning control.

As of November 2026, the designated control areas are:

• The whole City of Edinburgh Council area, from 5 September 2022.
• Badenoch and Strathspey (Highland Council Ward 20), covering Aviemore, Carrbridge, Grantown on Spey and surrounding villages, from 4 March 2024.

Highland Council consulted between May and June 2026 on two further proposed control areas, one for the City of Inverness and a wider Highland Rural area covering many rural and island communities. Each area committee is deciding whether to recommend its area, and any designation still needs approval from Scottish Ministers. If you own a holiday let in or around Inverness and the Highlands, check the current position with the council before you market the property, because it affects what an investor buyer could do with it.

Selling a short-term let in Edinburgh

Edinburgh is where these issues come up most often. A buyer who wants to keep letting a whole flat or house will want to see either planning permission for short-term let use, or a certificate of lawfulness confirming the use is lawful. Without one, an investor cannot rely on continuing the business, and their price reflects that. If you are selling in the capital, our Edinburgh area page and our page on how we buy houses for cash in Edinburgh explain how we work locally.

Do I need planning permission or a certificate of lawfulness to sell?

You do not need either simply to sell. You need them for the short-term let use to be lawful, and a buyer who wants to continue that use will ask for evidence.

Outside control areas, the Scottish Government’s planning circular on short-term lets explains that a change from a home to a short-term let can still be a material change of use needing permission. It depends on the facts, and a flat with a shared common stair is often looked at differently from a detached cottage.

A certificate of lawfulness of existing use formally confirms that a use is lawful. One route is to show continuous short-term let use for more than 10 years without material intensification or enforcement action, at which point the use is immune from enforcement. A certificate can also be sought where there has been no material change of use at all.

If the council has already served an enforcement notice, that must be disclosed. Our guide on selling with an outstanding planning enforcement notice explains how that affects a sale. If the property is also listed or in a conservation area, there may be extra consents to check, which we cover in selling a listed property or one in a conservation area.

What will the buyer’s solicitor ask for?

Expect more questions than on an ordinary residential sale. A well prepared seller can answer most of them at the start, which keeps the missives moving. Typical requests include:

1. A copy of the short-term let licence, any conditions, and confirmation of whether a transfer will be applied for.
2. Planning permission or a certificate of lawfulness for the short-term let use, especially in Edinburgh or Badenoch and Strathspey.
3. Whether the property is on the Valuation Roll for non-domestic rates or on the council tax list, with recent bills and confirmation there are no arrears.
4. Safety documents required by the licence conditions, such as a gas safety record, an Electrical Installation Condition Report and portable appliance testing, fire and carbon monoxide alarms, and a fire safety risk assessment.
5. Details of any future bookings and how they will be dealt with at the date of entry.
6. An inventory of contents included in the price, if furniture is being sold with the property.
7. Title conditions or a deed of conditions that might restrict business or holiday use, plus factoring details for a flat.

Our guide on whether you need an EICR to sell your house in Scotland explains what is expected. For the wider list of papers, see our guide to the documents you need to sell a house in Scotland. If the property has also been run as a house in multiple occupation, the buyer’s solicitor will want both licensing histories, which our guide on selling a house that was previously used as an HMO explains.

Do I still need a Home Report?

Usually, yes. An ordinary flat or house that happens to be let to holiday guests is still a house for Home Report purposes. The exception for seasonal and holiday accommodation applies where planning conditions restrict occupation, typically to holiday use and for less than 11 months in any 12 month period. If you are not sure which applies, your solicitor can confirm before you market the property.

Council tax or business rates: how does this affect the sale?

Self-catering property in Scotland is assessed for non-domestic (business) rates only if it meets all the tests set out in the mygov.scot guidance on self-catering and holiday lets. It must not be anyone’s only or main residence, it must be let commercially with a view to profit, and in the financial year it must be available to let for at least 140 nights and actually let for at least 70 nights. You must give the assessor evidence each year. If the tests are not met, the property goes on the council tax list instead.

For a sale, this matters in three ways. First, the buyer’s solicitor will want to know which regime applies and that there are no arrears. Our guide on selling with council tax arrears explains how these are usually cleared from the sale proceeds. Second, if letting stops, the property is likely to move back to council tax, and many councils now charge a premium of up to 100 percent on second homes. Third, a buyer who plans to keep letting needs to know whether they are likely to meet the 70 night test in their first year.

There is also the visitor levy. Edinburgh’s levy of 5 percent on the first five nights of a stay applies to stays from 24 July 2026 that were booked and paid for on or after 1 October 2025, and other councils are introducing their own schemes. If bookings will carry on after the sale, the buyer will want to understand how the levy on those bookings has been handled.

Can my buyer get a mortgage on a holiday let?

This is one of the biggest practical hurdles. Standard residential mortgages usually prevent letting without the lender’s consent, and buy to let mortgages are generally designed for private residential tenancies, not nightly letting. A buyer who wants to keep running your property as a short-term let will normally need a specialist holiday let mortgage, which fewer lenders offer, often with a larger deposit and stricter criteria.

A flat with keypad entry and hotel style furnishing may also be valued differently from a normal home. If a buyer’s lender declines, the sale can fall through late in the process, which our guide on what happens if your buyer’s mortgage is declined covers in more detail.

If you have your own mortgage on the property, check that your lender consented to holiday letting in the first place. Most will need to be repaid from the sale anyway, but our guide on telling your lender before you sell explains what to expect.

Will my buyer pay the Additional Dwelling Supplement?

Very likely, if they already own a home or are buying through a company. A holiday let is generally still a dwelling for Land and Buildings Transaction Tax purposes. Revenue Scotland confirms that the Additional Dwelling Supplement rose from 6 percent to 8 percent for contracts entered into from 5 December 2024.

On a property priced at £250,000, the supplement alone is £20,000 on top of the standard LBTT. Investors factor this into their offers, which is one reason holiday let prices can be lower than the income figures suggest.

What happens to future bookings when I sell?

Future bookings are contracts between you (or your platform) and your guests. They do not pass to a buyer automatically, and a buyer cannot honour them unless the licence has been transferred to them or they hold their own.

Your options are usually:

• Stop taking bookings beyond your likely date of entry as soon as you decide to sell. This is the cleanest route if the buyer wants a home.
• Cancel existing bookings after the date of entry. On Airbnb and similar platforms, host cancellations can bring fees, blocked calendar dates and other consequences unless a recognised reason applies, so check your platform’s current terms before you cancel.
• Agree a handover with an investor buyer, with the licence transferred and bookings, deposits and payouts apportioned in the missives. This needs careful drafting by both solicitors.

Remember that you can usually choose the date of entry. Setting it after your last confirmed booking can avoid cancellations altogether, but it delays your money, so weigh one against the other.

What about the furniture and contents?

An investor may want the property furnished and ready to let, while a homebuyer may want it empty. Agree in the missives exactly what is included, keep a written inventory, and ask your solicitor how any price for contents should be recorded.

Could my title deeds stop short-term letting?

Possibly, and this is often overlooked. Many flats, and some houses on newer estates, are subject to a deed of conditions or title conditions (real burdens) that restrict the property to use as a private dwellinghouse or prohibit any trade, business or profession. Whether nightly holiday letting breaches a particular burden depends on the exact wording, and neighbours with an interest to enforce may be able to act under the Title Conditions (Scotland) Act 2003.

An investor’s solicitor will check the title sheet for this. A restriction does not stop you selling to someone who will live there, but it can reduce the pool of investor buyers. Disputes with neighbours about guests, noise or common stair use should also be disclosed honestly.

Will I pay Capital Gains Tax on selling a holiday let?

If the property is not your main home and has gone up in value, probably yes. The Furnished Holiday Lettings tax regime was abolished from 6 April 2025, and HMRC guidance confirms that Business Asset Disposal Relief is no longer available on disposals from that date, unless the holiday letting business had actually ceased before 6 April 2025. Anti forestalling rules also catch some contracts entered into before that date.

For 2026 to 2027, the Capital Gains Tax rates for individuals are 18 percent and 24 percent, depending on your income, and the annual exempt amount is £3,000. A gain on UK residential property generally has to be reported and the tax paid within 60 days. If you lived in the property as your main home at some point, private residence relief may reduce the gain. Our guides to Capital Gains Tax when selling a buy to let in Scotland and tax when you sell a second home go into more detail, and it is worth speaking to an accountant or tax adviser before you agree a sale.

How can a cash sale help with a short-term let property?

A cash buyer does not need a mortgage, so there is no holiday let lender to satisfy and no valuation that can fall through. A cash buyer can also buy as seen, furnished or not, and you can agree a date of entry that works around your last booking. If you have licensing or planning loose ends, a cash buyer may be able to take those into account rather than walking away.

It will not suit everyone. A cash buyer will usually offer less than the full open market value, and if your property has a clean licence, planning permission in Edinburgh and a strong trading record, it may sell well on the open market to an investor. Our honest explainer on why cash buyers pay less sets out the trade off. You can also read how our process works before deciding.

Frequently asked questions

Can I sell my short-term let with the licence included?

You can apply to the council to transfer your licence to the buyer. Since 30 August 2024 the law allows this. The transfer covers only the remaining term of the licence and the same licence type and occupancy.

Can the new owner take bookings while their licence application is pending?

No, not if they are a new host applying for their own licence. Scottish Government guidance says new hosts must hold a licence before accepting bookings or receiving guests. A licence transfer applied for by you before the sale is the way to avoid a gap.

Do I need to stop letting before I put the property on the market?

No. You can keep letting while you sell, as long as your licence remains valid. Just avoid taking bookings after your likely date of entry unless the buyer has agreed to take them over properly.

Is a holiday let in Edinburgh harder to sell?

It can be harder to sell to an investor unless you have planning permission or a certificate of lawfulness, because the whole city is a control area. Selling to someone who will live there is usually more straightforward.

Will the property go back to council tax when I stop letting?

Usually, yes. Once it no longer meets the self-catering tests, it will normally be placed on the council tax list, and a second home premium may apply if it is not anyone’s main residence.

Can I still claim Furnished Holiday Lettings reliefs on the sale?

For most sellers, no. The regime was abolished from April 2025. Business Asset Disposal Relief may still be possible only in limited cases, such as where the holiday letting business actually ceased before 6 April 2025, so take tax advice.