Short-let management in Edinburgh, looked at closely: what happens in a normal month, what it costs in pounds, what you need before you start, and what stays your decision.
Short-let management in Edinburgh: an ordinary month
Most of what we do, you never see. Here's a normal month for a home we manage.
- Bookings come in on Airbnb, Booking.com and our other channels. Each night has its own price, reviewed by a person as well as by PriceLabs.
- Guests are checked before they get anything. ID first, then the arrival details and the access code.
- Questions are answered by our guest team from 9am to midnight, every day. Emergencies during a stay go to the 24/7 line.
- After each stay the home is cleaned, the linen changed and supplies restocked. Then it's checked against the listing photos.
- Small faults are fixed before the next guest notices. Anything over an agreed amount comes to you first.
- At the end of the month your statement shows every booking, every deduction and our fee, on a page you can check yourself.
The calendar is in your owner login whenever you want it. You hear from us when something needs your decision, not every time a towel goes missing.
In winter we add boiler, pressure and heating checks before the cold arrives. Our guide What every Edinburgh host should know covers the same ground if you'd like the detail, and the Airbnb management page shows how we look after homes area by area.
Short-let management fees, in pounds
Percentages are easier to judge with a real month in front of you. Say guests paid £4,000 after platform fees. The cleaning charge was £500 before VAT and the Visitor Levy collected was £150. Both come off first, because neither is income from your home. That leaves £3,350 of net booking revenue.
At 15% + VAT, our fee for that month is £603 including VAT, and £2,747 is yours before running costs. On the new owner rate of 10% + VAT, the fee would be £402.
An illustration, not a forecast. Note that 15% + VAT is 18% of net booking revenue once VAT is added. We'd rather say that plainly than let a headline do the work.
What sits outside the percentage
- A one-off onboarding fee: £400 + VAT for a studio to two bedrooms, £500 for three or four, £600 for five or six.
- Cleaning, which guests pay as a cleaning fee on most bookings.
- Repairs and supplies at cost, with larger jobs agreed with you first.
- Your usual running costs: utilities, broadband and insurance.
New owners who sign a one-year agreement by 31 December 2026 pay 10% + VAT for the first four months, on every tier. The full pricing page has a calculator, and the earnings calculator gives a typical year for your area.
Before you start: licence, planning, lender and insurance
A home can't take a single guest without the right licence. Every short let in Scotland has needed one since 1 October 2023. All of Edinburgh has also been a short-term let control area since 5 September 2022, so a flat you don't live in usually needs planning permission before the licence. The licensing guide explains both routes, and licensing in Edinburgh covers the council's own process.
The documents a licence asks for
Expect gas and electrical certificates, interlinked alarms, a fire risk assessment, a legionella assessment, an EPC, a floor plan and the right insurance. The full list is on the licence requirements page. We work with local electricians, gas engineers and fire assessors, and book whatever's missing.
The permissions people forget
Your mortgage lender may need to consent. Your title deeds or the factor's rules may say something about short lets. Your insurance needs to cover paying guests. None of these are hard, but each takes time.
We tell you which licence fits, then prepare and submit the application with you. Our support fees and the council's own fees are on the licence costs page. If the home is your main home and you're only away for a while, the home letting licence may be all you need.
Pricing an Edinburgh short let through the year
Edinburgh's year is lumpy. About a third of a typical year's income arrives in six weeks of August. The Fringe, Hogmanay, Six Nations weekends at Murrayfield and graduation weeks all push prices up. February Tuesdays don't. A home priced the same all year leaves money on the table in the busy weeks and sits empty in the quiet ones.
We price every night on its own. PriceLabs gives us the market data, and a person checks it against what we know about the city: a match at Easter Road, or a one-night gap between two bookings.
What that looks like across the year
- August: the strongest weeks of the year, with longer minimum stays. Our Fringe Host's Guide explains how to plan for it.
- Hogmanay and New Year: another peak, again with longer minimums.
- Rugby weekends: big demand around Murrayfield. See Six Nations 2027 for hosts.
- Winter weekdays: the quiet stretch, where careful pricing matters most.
Across the homes we managed all year, 84% of nights were booked last year, against 72% for Edinburgh short lets overall, according to PriceLabs. That's what the year-round approach adds up to. For a closer look at what homes actually earn here, read how much an Airbnb earns in Edinburgh.
Your home, your say: what stays with you
Handing over the work doesn't mean handing over the home. The decisions that matter stay with you.
- Your own dates. Block them in your owner login whenever you want, and we let the home around them.
- House rules. You decide them, alongside the basics every licensed home keeps to.
- Spending. Anything over an agreed amount needs your yes first, by message or email.
- Your cleaner. If they meet our standard and want to stay, they can.
- Your listing and reviews, where the listing is on your own account.
How you reach us
Every owner has a named person on our team. For owners, our phone, WhatsApp and email are open Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm. Your guests are looked after separately: messages are answered 9am to midnight, every day, and there's a 24/7 emergency line during every stay.
If you've been doing it all yourself until now, hosting it yourself explains what changes and what you keep. If you're working abroad, letting while you're away covers time zones, your belongings and coming home for a visit. And if another company runs your home now, see switching manager.
Neighbours, stairs and the licence conditions
A short let on a tenement stair works when the neighbours barely notice it. That's partly good guests and partly how the home is run. It's also part of your licence.
In Edinburgh, the licence holder must write to every other household in the building within 28 days of getting the licence, and every year after, with a contact number. We send that letter for the homes we manage, so neighbours know who to call.
What we do on every stair
- Every guest's ID is checked before they get an access code.
- Quiet hours from 10pm, no parties, and a guest limit set by the licence.
- A Minut noise sensor, included. It measures sound levels only and never records.
- Our cleaners take the bins out at every changeover and keep the stair clear.
If a neighbour gets in touch, we contact the guests straight away and tell the neighbour what we've done. Our page for neighbours explains how they reach us. The yearly letter, like your certificates, is one of the dates we track through to licence renewal.
If your building has a factor or an owners' association, it helps to talk to them early. The guide to short-letting a tenement flat has more on stairs, shared doors and keeping things friendly.
Is short-let management right for your home?
Not always, and we'll say so. Sometimes the sums point the other way.
Questions worth asking first
- Short let or long let? In some homes, a steady tenant is the better answer. Short let or long let? The Edinburgh numbers compares the two.
- Council tax or business rates? In Scotland, business rates apply if the home was available to let for at least 140 days in the year and actually let for at least 70. See council tax or business rates, and the council tax premium for second homes.
- The Visitor Levy. In the City of Edinburgh, guests pay 5% on the first five nights. We collect it and pay it to the council, and it's shown on your statement. See the Visitor Levy for hosts. It doesn't apply in East Lothian.
- Tax on the income. Our guide on short-let tax after April 2025 explains the changes.
Your free plan puts all of this in one place: what the home could earn on your dates, the licence route and every cost, after our fee. It's free, with no obligation. See what your home could earn, or if you'd rather talk it through, book a 15-minute call with one of the co-founders.
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.
