St Andrews, a town renowned globally for its heritage and status as the ‘Home of Golf’, attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists each year. Those visitors contribute millions of pounds to the local economy, largely through accommodation, hospitality, and golf tourism. Many property owners naturally look to short-term letting as an attractive option, so it is perhaps not surprising that the majority of short-term let properties in Fife are located in St Andrews and the surrounding areas, creating tension between sustaining a thriving visitor economy and protecting affordable housing for the local community.
Under powers introduced by the Scottish Government in April 2021 in order to help manage high concentrations of short-term let properties, particularly where it affects the availability of residential housing or the character of a neighbourhood, a local authority can designate all or part of its area as a 'short-term let control area'. That designation means that any new STL properties within that area require planning permission (for change of use), before the operator can apply for a licence to allow secondary letting, i.e. a property which is not the operator's main home.
In 2025, Fife Council launched a public consultation to gather views on whether parts of Fife, including St Andrews, should be designated as short-term let control areas. Residents, businesses, and operators were invited to share their experiences and opinions on how the rise of short-term lets was affecting housing and community life. Although the consultation covered the whole region, St Andrews and East Neuk were widely recognised as the areas most affected by the growth of holiday accommodation.
Despite the concerns raised by residents in the consultation responses, the report presented to the Council's cabinet committee recommended against the designation of any short-term let control area. The report concluded that the restrictions and narrow parameters of any designation would have little impact on existing STL properties and would have no direct effect on second homes, empty homes, or purpose-built holiday accommodation. Unpersuaded by those arguments, the Committee has now agreed to take the next steps towards introducing a short-term let control area for St Andrews and parts of East Neuk, which will culminate in a request for approval from the Scottish Ministers, before any control area comes into force.
However, there will be legal and practical complexities that can follow such a decision. This has been demonstrated in Edinburgh, where the Council’s designation of the entire city as a short-term let control area prompted multiple legal challenges. The Court of Session found key elements of Edinburgh’s licensing policy to be unlawful, including the presumption against secondary letting in tenements and the lack of provision for temporary licences, forcing the Council to amend its approach and remove several restrictive measures. So far, Fife appears to be taking a more cautious approach, emphasising that any control area designation will be intended to control, rather than ban, secondary letting. Despite this, Fife could still face legal challenge from operators and stakeholders around the proportionality of the proposal and the robustness of the evidence underpinning any decision.
Whilst this policy change is intended to help address local housing needs and the impacts that significant numbers of holiday lets can have on village communities, there may be unintended consequences for golf fans. St Andrews is scheduled to host the 2027 Open Championship, which will likely bring almost a quarter of a million people to the area, with the majority of them needing accommodation. The Council can grant temporary licensing exemptions for short-term lets during major events, allowing anyone to rent out their property for the duration of the event without having to obtain a full short-term let licence, but this has limited impact within a designated control area. Locals would still be able to rent out their spare rooms, or even their entire homes, for the event but the licensing exemption would only apply to second homes and investment properties if planning consent for secondary letting has already been granted. Within a control area, the requirement to have planning consent for any material change still applies, even if the local authority has granted a temporary exemption under the licensing regime.
In 2024, the Council granted a temporary licensing exemption to allow property owners in Fife to cater for the thousands of visitors attending the AIG Women's Open at St Andrews, addressing concerns that the capacity of existing licensed short-term let properties would be insufficient to address demand, which would likely lead to visitors being housed unlawfully. With the number of fans attending the 2024 Women's event being only a fraction of those anticipated for the 2027 Open Championship, there will no doubt be similar concerns, particularly if the proposed short-term let control area is in force by then.
