Letting Your Property in ScotlandLong-Term, Short-Term & Airbnb
Long-term lets, holiday lets and Airbnb in Scotland, side by side, with Fife examples.
47 pages A4 · phone edition 132 pages · full guide coming soon
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About this guide
Letting a home in Scotland can mean a long-term tenant, holiday guests, an Airbnb listing or a lodger in your spare room. Each route has its own law, paperwork and tax rules, and Scotland does most of it differently from England. Letting Your Property in Scotland sets the four routes side by side and walks through each one, with Fife examples from St Andrews and the East Neuk to Kirkcaldy and Dunfermline.
More about this guide
Part one helps you choose: the four ways to let, income, effort, risk and tax compared, renting a room in your home, and five checks to make before you decide. Part two covers long-term letting: the Scottish Landlord Register, the Private Residential Tenancy, rent rises and rent control, deposits, the repairing standard, safety certificates and alarms, the EPC, ending a tenancy, the First-tier Tribunal, what changed in 2025–26 and letting agents.
Part three is about short-term lets and Airbnb: the short-term let licence and its four types, Fife licence fees and how to apply, safety conditions, planning and control areas, insurance and AirCover, platform fees, the Visitor Levy, business rates or council tax, and running changeovers and pricing in Fife.
Part four covers the money: income tax on rental profit, expenses and mortgage interest, holiday-let tax, Making Tax Digital, buying to let and selling, with a worked example of one Fife flat let two ways. Part five is a toolkit of checklists, a yearly compliance calendar, common mistakes, myths and facts and useful contacts. Facts come from official sources, checked in October 2026.
What’s inside
- The four ways to let, side by side
- Renting a room in your home
- The Landlord Register and the Private Residential Tenancy
- Rent, rent control and deposits
- Repairs, safety certificates and the EPC
- Ending a tenancy and the Tribunal
- The short-term let licence and Fife fees
- Planning, insurance and Airbnb
- The Visitor Levy, rates or council tax
- Tax, Making Tax Digital and selling
- Worked example: one Fife flat, two ways
- Checklists and a yearly compliance calendar
Education only, not legal or tax advice. For a tenancy dispute, an eviction or a licence refusal, speak to a Scottish solicitor. For tax, speak to a qualified accountant or tax adviser, or HMRC.
