Highlands bring fresh proposals to curb Airbnb-style lets in deepening housing crisis
.jpeg?crop=3:2,smart&trim=&width=640&quality=70&enable=upscale)
In parts of Inverness, Portree, Dornoch and Fort William, short-term lets account for more than one in five homes
Plans to tighten controls on short-term holiday lets across large parts of the Highlands are to go out to consultation amid growing concern over the impact of tourism on housing and the sustainability of rural communities.
The six-week consultation proposes two Short Term Let Control Areas (STLCAs) covering Inverness and much of the more rural areas of the region. If approved, property owners would need planning permission before converting residential homes into secondary short-term lets such as Airbnb-style accommodation.
In parts of Inverness, Portree, Dornoch and Fort William, short-term lets account for more than one in five homes. Pressure is particularly acute in Skye and Lochalsh, where council data suggests 13.6 per cent of homes sold between 2019-20 and 2023-24 were subsequently converted into short-term lets. Across the proposed control area, almost one in ten homes built within the past five years now operates as holiday accommodation.
Highland Council insists the measures are not intended to curb tourism, a cornerstone of the region’s economy, but to address what is an increasingly severe housing crisis.
In response to a freedom of information request from the Scottish Liberal Democrats, the council confirmed that 6,466 people declared themselves homeless or at risk of homelessness over the past five years. The number rose from 1,071 in 2020-21 to 1,348 in 2024-25, with one in five applicants in the last year aged between 18 and 25.
Under the proposals, future changes of use from residential homes to secondary short-term lets within designated control areas would automatically require planning consent. Existing short-term lets would not be banned, and the measures would not affect second homes, empty properties or purpose-built holiday accommodation.
Highland Council estimates that around 24,000 new homes will be needed across the region by 2034.
Bill Lobban, convener of The Highland Council, said the authority was seeking to “balance tourism growth with local housing need”.
“Tourism is vital to the Highlands,” he said. “STLCAs are not a ban on short-term lets, and we recognise the important role they play in our visitor economy.”
The proposals mirror a control area introduced in Badenoch and Strathspey two years ago, which the council said had shown early signs of slowing the growth of secondary short-term lets
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.