More than 1,600 Dumfries and Galloway short-term let owners apply for licence

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More than 1600 of the region’s short-term let owners have applied for a licence.

But that could mean several hundred are still renting out holiday accommodation without the relevant paperwork.

Recently introduced Scottish Government legislation means that people running holiday accommodation, such as AirBnB properties and self catering cottages, needed to obtain an operating licence from the local authority.

The latest figures published by Holyrood show that by the end of June this year, 1,617 applications had been received.

However, earlier this year the council’s communities committee was told there were around 2,300 short-term lets in Dumfries and Galloway, meaning there could potentially be around 700 properties being let without the required licence.

Operators had until the start of October last year to apply for a licence or face a fine of as much as £2,500.

Edinburgh and the Highlands are the only two council areas with more short-term let applications than Dumfries and Galloway, with an area referred to as “Dalbeattie Rural - 01” seeing the third most in the country.

It is estimated there have been 212 applications for every 10,000 properties in Dumfries and Galloway.

More than 800 applications had been for detached houses, with 128 for what have been described as an “unconventional dwelling”.

More than 1400 applications were for second homes, with only three of the total applications received having been rejected.

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