Short term lets licensing

Guidance - Short Term Let Control Areas

Inside STL (Short Term Let) control areas a mandatory licensing condition regarding planning permission applies.

Current control areas

Ward 20 Badenoch and Strathspey, was designated as a STL control area at 12pm on 4 March 2024.

The entire Ward 20 area is covered and a map of ward 20 is available to download.

Evidence required

For secondary letting properties in a STL control area, one of the following must be available for the purposes of the STL licence:

  • evidence that planning permission has been granted for the operation of the property as a STL
  • evidence that an application for planning permission for the use of the property as a short term let has been made and has not yet been determined
  • evidence that the property does not require planning permission for use as a STL

If your property does not require planning permission for use as a STL, you will need to provide one of the following as evidence:

  • a Certificate of Lawful Use, which confirms that the property does not require planning permission
  • a Certificate of Lawful Development, which is where the property has operated as a STL for over 10 years and cannot be subject to any enforcement action for a lack of planning permission for this use

If you have:

  • not applied for your licence - this evidence should be provided along with your licence application
  • applied for your licence and the licence has not been issued - we will contact you to request this evidence while processing your application, this evidence must be provided to us before an STL licence can be issued
  • licences that have already been issued - you must have this evidence available to confirm compliance with this mandatory licence condition

This evidence is required for licensing purposes regardless of whether the application for a STL licence was made before or after the designation of a STL Control Area.

Planning advice

Applicants can enquire as to whether they require planning permission for their property by making a development enquiry.

Responses offered by this service do not have any formal legal standing and will not be accepted as evidence that planning permission is not required for a STL property.

Questions regarding the planning aspects of the STL Control Area or regarding specific applications for planning permission can be directed to our planning department at devplans@highland.gov.uk.

If you have further questions guidance notes on planning for STL control areas are available to download.

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