Guides

Buying a house in the Outer Hebrides to holiday let

Letting a house to holidaymakers in Scotland needs a licence from the council, and the licence comes with certificates, a floor plan and a number that has to appear on every advert.

In brief

• Buying a second property to let is secondary letting: £294 plus £21 per guest to apply, and a licence runs three years.
• Available to let for 140 nights and actually let for 70 nights in the same financial year, and the property moves from council tax to non domestic rates.

The licence is not optional

The Comhairle's short term lets page states that mandatory licensing began in January 2022, and the guidance uses 1 October 2022 to separate existing hosts from everybody else. A house bought now and let to holidaymakers needs a licence before it takes bookings. Of the four licence types, secondary letting is accommodation which is not the holder's only or principal home, the one for a house bought as an investment. Licences run three years, shorter in exceptional circumstances.

A house that is already licensed is the exception: the holder may apply to transfer the licence to you, and subject to no objection from the Chief Constable you do not apply afresh, and the time left to run transfers with it.

What it costs

The 2026/27 fees are a base fee plus a sum per guest covered, and carry no VAT.

Also published: a variation £53, a transfer £53, a duplicate £21, a temporary exemption of up to six weeks £53, and enforcement at £100 an hour. Certificates are bought separately. The authority has nine months to determine an application, and if it does not, the guidance is that the licence is deemed granted.

The certificates, and what they cost you in time

The Comhairle publishes an application checklist, and much of it has a shelf life.

• Floor plans showing room sizes, stairs, sanitary and cooking facilities with the heat source, beds, detectors and any stoves or boilers. They need not be to scale. Above three guest bedrooms, smoke alarms go in the bedrooms too.
• Gas safety certificates, barbecues and heaters included, within 12 months of the last inspection, and an Electrical Installation Condition Report and a portable appliance test within five years.
• A legionella risk assessment with a water system plan, and a fire service safety checklist with every question answered.
• Buildings and public liability insurance, compliance records for furniture and furnishings, and an Energy Performance Certificate valid within ten years.

That list is a sequence, not a form: the electrical report and the gas certificate need an electrician and a gas engineer on the island, and fire safety work may need equipment fitted first. The Comhairle states that provisions covering detection, warning and furnishings are mandatory licence conditions, and that whoever controls the premises must assess the risks from fire.

Once the licence is granted

A certified copy of the licence and conditions is displayed where all guests can see it, with the safety documentation. The licence number goes on any listing or advert, online or in print, with the maximum guests permitted and the EPC rating where applicable. The Comhairle sets that maximum, weighing what is asked against what can safely be accommodated. On refusal or revocation the adverts come down.

Planning, and the control area question

A council may designate a control area, in which letting a dwelling that is not a principal home needs planning permission. The Comhairle's policy answers the question for these islands: "There is currently no short-term let control areas in the Outer Hebrides", and says the section will be updated if one is created. Outside a control area it is for the planning service to consider whether a let has the appropriate permission, which the policy says will not normally affect a licence.

Council tax or non domestic rates

The licence and the second home charge both sit against a known housing need in the islands, which the Local Development Plan records; long lets are on the rentals page.

A self catering property moves from council tax to the valuation roll for non domestic rates only if it meets both halves of a test in the same financial year: available to let for 140 nights and actually let for 70. The thresholds were set by the Council Tax (Dwellings and Part Residential Subjects) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2021, in force from 1 April 2022, which state the test in days; the Scottish Government's current guidance states it as 140 nights available and 70 nights let. Assessors may ask for evidence of letting, of availability, or both, and a property failing the test goes back on the council tax list.

That matters, because a property on the council tax list which is nobody's main residence is charged the second home rate, and the Comhairle's page still stated 200 per cent, in force since 1 April 2024, when it was read on 22 September 2026, and its February 2026 budget set out raising that to 225 per cent for 2026/27: ask the council tax team for the current rate. A let falling short of 70 can find itself paying double: council tax on a second home has the bands.

Running a let on an island

Guests arrive by boat or plane. The transport strategy records severe summer capacity constraints on Ullapool to Stornoway, difficulty booking space for a vehicle and an ageing fleet reducing reliability, and Barra's flights follow the tide. A cancelled sailing is a cancelled arrival.

There is a great deal of competition. At 31 December 2025 there were 1,079 short term let licences in operation in Na h-Eileanan Siar against 32,317 across Scotland, and the government's statistics put this council area top of the country at 707 per 10,000 dwellings.

The season is not the whole year. The strategy refers to a widening peak summer period; what that means for occupancy or income no public body publishes.

What is for sale here

Everything advertised today is on the for sale page, and the island pages for Lewis, Harris, North Uist, Benbecula, South Uist and Barra split it by island. On a croft, read buying a croft first: croft tenure carries residency and use duties a letting plan has to fit around.

Sources

• Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, short term lets. Licensing from January 2022. Checked 22 September 2026.
• Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, licensing policy. The types, the three years, the control areas. Checked 22 September 2026.
• Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, fees and charges. The 2026/27 table. Checked 22 September 2026.
• Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, application checklist. The documents above. Checked 22 September 2026.
• Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, fire safety. Fire safety as a licence condition. Checked 22 September 2026.
• Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, Outer Hebrides Local Development Plan 2018. The known housing need in the islands. Checked 22 September 2026.
• Scottish Government, guidance for hosts and operators. The threshold, the transfer, the nine months, the adverts. Checked 22 September 2026.
• mygov.scot, non domestic rates for self catering. The test in nights, updated 30 March 2026. Checked 22 September 2026.
• Scottish Government, rates thresholds consultation. The 2021 Regulations and the assessors' evidence. Checked 22 September 2026.
• Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, second homes. The 200 per cent charge, as stated on 22 September 2026.
• Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, Leader's pre-budget statement. The 225 per cent levy recommended for 2026/27. Checked 22 September 2026.
• Scottish Government, licensing statistics. The 1,079 and 32,317. Checked 22 September 2026.
• Scottish Government news. The 707 per 10,000 dwellings. Checked 22 September 2026.
• Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, Local Transport Strategy. The ferry pressures and the summer peak. Checked 22 September 2026.

Last checked 22 September 2026. Every source named above was read on that date, and rules, rates and timetables all move, so check the current position before you rely on a figure here. Corrections to hello@outerhebridesproperty.co.uk.