Argyll and Bute Council has opened a six-week consultation on bringing new short-term lets under tighter planning control across four pressured island and coastal housing markets.
The proposed Argyll and Bute short-term let control area would cover Mull and Iona, Coll and Tiree, Islay, Jura and Colonsay, and Lorn and the Inner Isles. The consultation opened on 21st September 2026 and runs until 1st November 2026.
Targeted areas rather than the whole council
The council considered the geography of the proposal against evidence from its short-term let licensing scheme, housing market analysis and wider Housing Emergency work.
It has deliberately stopped short of proposing a council-wide control area. The Statement of Reasons says short-term let concentrations and housing pressures are not evenly spread across Argyll and Bute, so the consultation is targeted at the housing market areas where it considers the pressure greatest.
The figures are striking. The council says housing classed as “ineffective”, which includes second homes, long-term empty properties and secondary-let short-term lets, accounts for approximately:
- 42% of stock in Coll and Tiree
- 30% in Mull and Iona
- 30% in Islay, Jura and Colonsay
- 15% in Lorn and the Inner Isles
Across Argyll and Bute as a whole the equivalent figure is about 15%. The council says the loss of homes from permanent occupation is contributing to affordability problems, recruitment difficulties, declining housing choice and pressure on island communities.
What the Argyll and Bute short-term let control area would change
If the proposed area is eventually designated, planning permission would always be required for a new change from a dwellinghouse or flat that is not somebody’s principal home to a secondary short-term let within the control area.
That is not the same as banning holiday lets. Applications could still be made and would be assessed against planning policy.
Home sharing and home letting of a principal residence are treated differently, and the council’s proposed approach says they should continue to be supported. Existing short-term lets would not automatically become unauthorised simply because a control area was designated. Where an existing use already amounts to a material change of use, the ordinary planning rules can still require permission regardless of the control area.
Planning and licensing remain separate
Scotland’s short-term let licensing scheme is a separate system. Argyll and Bute says all short-term lets already require the appropriate licence, but a licence does not by itself decide whether planning permission is required.
A control area would make the planning position clearer for new secondary letting within the designated geography by treating the change as material and therefore requiring permission.
This is still a consultation
No new control area is yet in force. The council will consider consultation responses before deciding whether to proceed, and its final Statement of Reasons can be amended.
If Argyll and Bute decides to pursue designation, the proposal must then go through the statutory process and obtain approval from the Scottish Ministers before a control area can take effect.
The consultation is therefore the start of the formal public debate, not the introduction of a new planning restriction. Since then, Highland Council has approved two short-term let control area proposals for submission to Scottish Ministers.
Read the council’s consultation information and Statement of Reasons.
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