In more detail
Edinburgh's rules make more sense once you see how they work on a real stair, in a real year. Here's the detail behind the summary above.
01Edinburgh's short-term let control area: what change of use means in practice
Being a control area doesn't ban short lets. It means one specific thing: if you use a whole home that isn't your main home as a short let, that's a change of use, and you need planning permission for it. It covers every part of the city, from a New Town main-door flat to a new-build in Granton.
Letting your own home while you're away, or a room while you're there, isn't normally a change of use, because it's still your home. That's why home letting and home sharing usually need no planning, and why the main-home question matters so much. The council looks at where you actually live, not where you'd like to say you live.
Where planning is hardest
In practice, flats that share a common stair or entrance with homes lived in by residents are the hardest to get planning for. Think of a typical Marchmont or Leith Walk tenement: one street door, one stair, neighbours passing on every landing. Main-door homes and houses tend to have better prospects. A planning consultant can advise on a specific property.
If it was a short let before September 2022
A Certificate of Lawfulness can confirm that the use was already lawful. It usually needs evidence of ten years or more of use as a short let without enforcement action, such as booking records and accounts. Secondary letting and planning explains this in more detail.
We don't prepare secondary letting or planning applications, but we're glad to talk through your options. If the home is your main home, the home letting licence is usually the simpler route. If you're buying with short lets in mind, read Buying a short-let property in Edinburgh before you offer.
02Edinburgh licence conditions on top of the national rules
Every short-let licence in Scotland carries the same mandatory conditions: safety, insurance, maximum guest numbers, and the licence number and EPC rating in every listing. The full list is on our requirements checklist. The City of Edinburgh Council adds its own conditions, and they're mostly about living well alongside neighbours.
- Letters to the building. Within 28 days of getting the licence, and every year after, write to every household in the same building and the adjoining premises. Give the name of the licence holder or agent, a contact address, a daytime phone number and an emergency number.
- A 24-hour contact. An emergency number for you or your manager, available day and night and given to the council.
- Quiet arrivals and departures. Guests should come and go quietly, know the rules for shared areas, and close the street and stair doors behind them.
- Nuisance. Take steps to prevent nuisance to neighbours, respect their privacy and security, and deal properly with any anti-social behaviour.
- Bins. Provide proper storage for rubbish and recycling, and make sure the bins go out at the right time. That's the licence holder's job, not the guests'.
- Information in the home. Display emergency procedures and keep the licence and its conditions where guests can find them.
On a tenement stair, the bins and the doors are where most neighbour friction starts. A clear house manual helps. Our Guest Message and House Manual Kit has wording you can adapt, and the tenement guide covers stairs, factors and shared repairs.
03Neighbours, site notices and objections in Edinburgh
Neighbours have a formal voice in the licensing process, and an informal one every day after. Both matter.
The formal part
When you apply, you display a site notice at the property for 21 days so anyone can see an application has been made. Under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982, people have 28 days from when the application is advertised to object. An objection has to be in writing and signed, give the objector's name and address, and explain the grounds. The council can accept a late objection if there's a good reason for the delay. If there are objections, you get a copy, and the application goes to the council's Licensing Sub-Committee rather than being decided by officers.
The informal part
We suggest a short, friendly note to the stair before the site notice goes up. Say who you are, what you're planning, and who to call if anything goes wrong. Most concerns are practical: noise late at night, suitcases on the stair, the main door left open, bins on the wrong day. Answer those up front and most of the worry goes away.
For the homes we manage, neighbours can reach our team Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm, and our guest team is on WhatsApp until midnight for anything urgent. Our page for neighbours sets out who to call and what we do when something goes wrong. If you're hosting yourself, our self-hosting page covers how to stay reachable without being on your phone all evening.
04The Edinburgh Visitor Levy in practice for hosts
The Visitor Levy is separate from the licence, but in Edinburgh the two now go together. From 24 July 2026, stays in the City of Edinburgh carry a 5% levy on the accommodation price, before VAT, for the first five nights of each stay. The guest pays it. The host collects it and pays the council.
What hosts actually have to do
- Register through the national service at visitorlevy.scot.
- Add the levy to the guest's price on every booking, whether direct or through a platform.
- Send a return and pay every quarter. The first quarter covers stays from 24 July to 30 September 2026, and is due by 13 November 2026.
- Keep records for five years.
- Refund the levy if a booking is cancelled and refunded, and don't pay it over.
Businesses keep 2% of the levy they collect to cover the cost of collecting it. Some guests are exempt, such as guests who receive certain disability benefits. They usually pay at booking and then claim a refund from the council. The council can charge penalties for late or missing returns.
How it fits with your numbers
The levy isn't your income. On our statements it's shown line by line and taken off before our fee is worked out, so you never pay our management fee on it. For a longer stay, only the first five nights carry the levy, which is one small reason longer bookings from companies and contractors suit some homes well.
Our full Visitor Levy guide has worked examples and the quarterly deadlines for the first year.
05Timing your Edinburgh licence around the Fringe, Hogmanay and the Six Nations
Edinburgh's year isn't flat. August is the high point, with the Fringe and the other festivals. Hogmanay brings a sharp peak. Murrayfield fills weekends in February and March for the Six Nations, and graduations bring families to the city in June, July and November. Your licence timing should follow that calendar.
If you want a full licence
The council aims to decide within about four months, and can take up to nine. If you want to be hosting by the summer, apply in the autumn or winter before, not in May. For a new licence, you can't take guests until it's granted, so a late application can mean missing August altogether.
If you only want a few weeks
A temporary exemption covers up to six weeks in a calendar year, in up to three periods. Applications can go in up to six months before your start date, so from February for August. Spring is the council's busiest time, so earlier is better. You could split your six weeks between the Fringe, Hogmanay and a Six Nations weekend. Our temporary exemption page has the timeline, and Six Nations 2027 at Murrayfield looks at the rugby weekends.
Both, in one plan
Some owners take a temporary exemption for this summer and apply for a home letting licence for the longer term at the same time. We offer the two together as a bundle, shown on our licence costs page. The Fringe Host's Guide covers pricing, minimum stays and changeovers for August.
06Edinburgh or East Lothian: what changes outside the city boundary
We look after homes in Edinburgh and East Lothian, and owners are often surprised how much changes a few miles along the coast. The city boundary runs between Portobello and Musselburgh, and it decides which council licenses your home and which rules apply.
| Topic | City of Edinburgh | East Lothian |
|---|
| Short-let licence | Needed, from the City of Edinburgh Council | Needed, from East Lothian Council |
| Short-term let control area | The whole city, since 5 September 2022 | Edinburgh's control area doesn't apply |
| Visitor Levy | 5% for the first five nights, stays from 24 July 2026 | Edinburgh's levy doesn't apply |
| Council fees and extra conditions | Edinburgh's own | East Lothian's own |
The national safety conditions are the same on both sides of the line. What differs is the council, its fees, its own extra conditions and its approach to planning. For a home you don't live in outside the city, check the planning position with East Lothian Council directly rather than assuming Edinburgh's rules carry over, in either direction.
East Lothian has its own rhythm. North Berwick draws families on summer holidays, golfers, walkers and birdwatchers, and Musselburgh suits families, race-day visitors and festival guests who want space and a short train into town. Our page on golf holiday homes in East Lothian shows the kind of guest who stays there.
07Enforcement in Edinburgh: what happens when things go wrong
Most hosts never hear from the licensing team after the licence is granted. It helps to know what happens if they do.
Operating a short let without a licence or a valid exemption is a criminal offence. For licensed homes, the council's policy is to try to resolve problems by working with the host first. If that doesn't work, it can add conditions to the licence, issue a compliance notice, suspend the licence or revoke it, and serious cases can be referred to the Procurator Fiscal.
What usually triggers a problem
- Repeated complaints about noise or behaviour on the stair.
- More guests than the licence allows.
- Certificates that have lapsed, especially the yearly gas safety check.
- A listing without the licence number or EPC rating.
- A licence that expired without a renewal going in.
Inspections are carried out on a risk-based approach, and the council charges for inspections that follow complaints or non-compliance.
How to stay well clear
Keep a simple calendar of every certificate and the licence expiry date. Brief every guest on the stair rules before they arrive. Answer neighbours quickly and kindly. Our renewal page has a timeline that avoids gaps, and the requirements checklist shows what needs to stay in date. For homes we manage, we track all of it for you. If you'd like to talk it through, book a 15-minute call.
Rather talk it through?Book a 15-minute call with one of the co-founders, or get a free plan for your home: what it could earn, the licence route and every cost.
