The STL licensing legislation (namely The Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) Order 2022 as amended by The Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) (Amendment) Order 2023) provides that from 1 October 2023, existing host/operators (i.e. those who were operating their short-term let property prior to 1 October 2022) can only continue to operate lawfully if they have: a) submitted an application for a licence before 1 October 2023 that has not yet been determined; or b) been granted a short-term let licence. Existing host/operators who make an application before 1 October 2023 can continue to operate whilst their application is being determined.
As such, an existing host/operator must submit their application for an STL licence by 1 October 2023. Such application does not have to be validated by this date. An application will be validated once we have reviewed the application and confirmed that we have all of the necessary information and documentation required to process the application. A provisional licence number will be allocated once an application is duly marked as valid.
As such, licensing authorities require an application to be received by 1st October 2023 by an existing host/operator. Existing host/operators who do not submit their application by this date will lose their “existing host/operator” status and will be treated as a new host/operator when they apply for their licence.