But the change is not in force yet. Councillors approved submission of the Inverness City and Highland Rural proposals at a special Economy and Infrastructure Committee meeting on 28th September 2026. Scottish Ministers must approve the designations before either area can become operative.
The decision follows a six-week statutory consultation in May and June which attracted more than 800 responses. Highland Council says 84% of responding residents and businesses supported the Inverness proposal, with 72% supporting the rural proposal.
Two Highland proposals, one ministerial hurdle
Highland Council says the aim is to manage future loss of housing to short-term letting while keeping tourism and the visitor economy in view. Councillor Ken Gowans, who chairs the Economy and Infrastructure Committee, said: “The decision is not about stopping short term lets or affecting existing operators.” He said future residential conversions should instead be capable of proper consideration through the planning system.
Across all survey respondents, however, the picture was more divided. Inverness recorded 62% support and 34% opposition, while the Highland Rural survey recorded 45% support and 49% opposition. Operators were the most resistant group, with 86% of Inverness operator and prospective-operator respondents and 79% of rural operator respondents opposing the proposals.
The two proposed areas cover very different geographies. The Inverness City proposal takes in Inverness West, Central, Ness-side and Millburn, together with part of Inverness South. The Highland Rural proposal covers Aird and Loch Ness, parts of Inverness South, Wester Ross, Strathpeffer and Lochalsh, Lochaber, Skye and Raasay, and Sutherland.
Highland already has one short-term let control area. Badenoch and Strathspey became designated in March 2024. If approved, the new Highland short-term let control area proposals would extend the control-area approach substantially.
Read Highland Council’s announcement of the 28th September decision, our locally hosted copy of the post-consultation report, and the council’s Economy and Infrastructure Committee page.
Why Highland says tighter planning control is needed
Earlier evidence published by the council helps explain why members have pushed the proposals forward. When consultation opened in May, Highland said short-term lets represented more than 20% of homes in some communities, including parts of Inverness, Portree, Dornoch and Fort William.
The council also said 13.6% of homes sold in Skye and Lochalsh between 2019/20 and 2023/24 later became short-term lets. Across the proposed Highland Rural control area, it reported that 9.5% of homes built in the previous five years were operating as short-term lets.
Those figures sit behind a wider argument about housing availability, affordability, workforce recruitment and community resilience. In rural areas, Highland says even a relatively small number of homes leaving permanent residential use can have a noticeable effect because replacement housebuilding is limited.
The proposals have not been universally welcomed. The Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers has challenged the evidence base and warned about economic consequences for tourism businesses. Earlier in the consultation process, The Press and Journal reported the group describing the proposals as “economically reckless policymaking”. STV also reported the association’s argument that the council had not demonstrated the policy would work.
That disagreement will not be settled simply by creating a control area. A designation does not ban short-term lets and it does not mean every future planning application must be refused. What it changes is the planning gateway.
What a Highland short-term let control area would change
Section 26B of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 allows planning authorities to designate all or part of their area as a short-term let control area. Within a designated area, a change from a dwellinghouse to short-term letting falling within the statutory definition is deemed to be a material change of use.
In practical terms, that means a future conversion of a residential property to a secondary short-term let within either new Highland control area would require planning permission. The Highland short-term let control area mechanism therefore changes the planning gateway for future secondary letting, rather than imposing a blanket prohibition. The authority would then assess each application against the development plan and other material planning considerations.
Outside a control area, the position is less automatic. A change from a dwellinghouse to short-term letting can still be a material change of use and require permission, but that depends on the facts and circumstances of the particular case.
The Scottish Government’s planning circular describes the purpose of control areas as bringing these changes within the planning system without first having to decide case by case whether the change is material. It also sets out the formal designation process: consultation, submission to ministers for approval, then public notice of the designation and its commencement date if approval is given.
No new control area is operative yet
That last stage matters here. Highland Council has completed consultation and approved submission, but ministerial approval has not yet been given. The council says a further report will return to the Economy and Infrastructure Committee once ministers decide, including any implementation arrangements and proposed commencement dates.
The committee report also warns of a potentially considerable increase in planning caseload if designation proceeds and says extra staffing may be needed in advance. Planning fee income may offset some of those costs over time.
Existing short-term lets are not automatically made unlawful by a new control area. Section 26B is not retrospective. An operator already using a property for short-term letting before designation would not suddenly need permission solely because the control area starts.
There is an important qualification. Existing uses can already require planning permission under the ordinary material change of use test. Highland’s own guidance says an existing operator may therefore still need to establish the planning position, including potentially through a planning application or certificate of lawfulness, depending on the history and facts of the property.
Planning and licensing are separate systems
Planning control also needs to be kept separate from Scotland’s short-term let licensing regime. Licensing applies across Scotland and is concerned with whether an operator can lawfully run short-term let accommodation under that system. Planning determines whether the use of the property is acceptable in land-use terms.
The two regimes interact, but one does not replace the other. The Scottish Government’s short-term let guidance explains that where planning permission is required in a control area, an operator may need either permission or an undetermined planning application in place before progressing the relevant licensing application.
For the Highland short-term let control area proposals, the immediate question is now at ministerial level. The council must submit the two designations and supporting case to the Scottish Government. Only after approval, formal notice and a commencement date would the new planning requirement become operative.
For anyone considering buying or converting a home for secondary short-term letting in Inverness or the proposed rural area, the practical message is therefore one of timing rather than an immediate prohibition. The rules have not changed today, but the route to tighter control is now much shorter.
Planning Geek recently covered Argyll and Bute’s separate consultation on a proposed short-term let control area, showing that Highland is part of wider use of the Scottish control-area mechanism. For English readers, our serviced accommodation and short-term lets guide explains the different planning position south of the border.
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