In short: Three Scottish authorities have moved decisively on Control Area designation over summer 2026. Argyll and Bute (four proposed areas covering Mull, Iona, Coll, Tiree, Islay, Jura, Colonsay and the Lorn and Inner Isles); Perth and Kinross (Highland Perthshire, already submitted to Scottish Ministers); Highland (Wester Ross, Strathpeffer and Lochalsh, awaiting Committee decision). Operators in each of these areas have a defined window in which to secure their planning position, and it is closing.
Short-Term Let Control Area designations in Scotland were slower to arrive than many predicted. Through summer 2026, that changed. Three separate authorities moved within weeks of one another, and the map of designated Control Areas in Scotland is being redrawn.
Argyll and Bute: four proposed areas
On 25 June 2026, Argyll and Bute Council agreed to consult on Control Areas covering four proposed geographies: Mull and Iona; Coll and Tiree; Islay, Jura and Colonsay; and the Lorn and Inner Isles. The Council framed the decision as part of a wider response to a declared housing emergency in the area.
The Association of Scotland's Self-Caterers has publicly warned of a potential legal challenge to the designations, characterising the evidence base for the housing-pressure link as inadequate. Whether that challenge materialises will shape what happens next. What it does not change is the fact that the process is under way and that, absent successful challenge, designation is a realistic outcome in some or all of the proposed areas.
Perth and Kinross: already with Scottish Ministers
On 17 June 2026, Perth and Kinross Council's Full Council agreed to submit a proposed Control Area designation for Highland Perthshire (and part of northern Eastern Perthshire) to Scottish Ministers for confirmation. The Council's own communications confirm that existing short-term let uses will not be affected by the designation, but any subsequent change of use will require planning permission.
The important word in that formulation is "existing". "Existing" in a planning sense means lawful under planning law. An operator who has been letting a property for years without a Certificate of Lawfulness or planning permission is not, in the Council's eyes, necessarily conducting an "existing use" - they are potentially conducting an unlawful use that has not yet been challenged. Designation makes that challenge materially easier for the Council to bring.
Highland: further areas awaiting Committee
Highland Council's consultations on Wester Ross, Strathpeffer and Lochalsh (and separately Inverness City and Highland Rural) closed on 23 June 2026. The Wester Ross consultation returned a narrow overall majority in favour of designation. The Council's Economy and Infrastructure Committee is expected to decide on both sets of proposals in later 2026. We wrote separately on the Highland position.
What designation means
Where a Control Area is designated, a change of use of a dwellinghouse to secondary letting short-term let use in the designated area is deemed material and requires planning permission (home-letting and home-sharing sit outside the deeming provision). That does not automatically mean permission will be refused, but it does mean an application is required, with all the cost, delay, and uncertainty that entails.
For an operator who does not currently hold a planning permission or a Certificate of Lawfulness, designation is a material change in position. The operator moves from being able to argue "no material change of use" to being required to apply and win on planning merits, in an authority now openly framing designation as a housing-emergency response.
What operators should do
1. If you operate in Argyll and Bute islands, Highland Perthshire, or the Highland areas listed above, take advice on planning status now. Not after consultation. Not after Committee. Not after Ministerial confirmation. Now. 2. Prioritise a Certificate of Lawfulness where available. A Certificate secured before designation is unaffected by the designation. A Certificate refused after designation has a much harder path to appeal. 3. Where a Certificate is not available, take advice on planning permission. Applications made against the pre-designation policy context are assessed on more favourable terms. 4. Where multiple properties are held in a portfolio in the affected areas, address the portfolio in one exercise. The cost of a single portfolio review is materially lower than the cost of defending each unit individually if designations land while planning positions are unresolved.
The consistent lesson from Scotland - now for the third year running - is that early action produces materially better outcomes than late action. That remains the case in each of the authorities named above.
Sources: Argyll and Bute Council - Housing emergency response; ASSC - Legal challenge warning; Perth and Kinross Council - Short-term Let Control Area; Scottish Housing News - Wester Ross designation.
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