Aberdeen, UK Short-Term Rental Regulations: A 2026 Guide For Airbnb Hosts

Do you own a flat in Aberdeen and you're weighing whether to put it on Airbnb or Vrbo? Well, the good news is that you can, and Aberdeen City Council has been noticeably gentler about it than Edinburgh has. The council's own short-term let guidance note, updated in January 2026, says plainly that "no significant or city-wide issues are evident in Aberdeen and there is no intention to designate a control area at this time". So there's no citywide planning ban to argue your way past, and licences keep being granted: 524 were in operation in the city at 31 December 2025, up from 495 six months earlier.

The catch is the cost of getting in, and it's higher than most people expect. Every short-term let in Scotland has needed a licence since 1 October 2022, and running one without a licence isn't a fine you can quietly absorb, since it's a criminal offence. Aberdeen's fee schedule changed on 1 January 2026 and now runs from £470.40 for a two-guest home share up to £3,505.60 for a secondary let sleeping thirteen or more, with nothing refundable if you're refused. Then there's council tax at 200% on a second home, and a 7% visitor levy arriving in 2027.

So let's walk through what it takes to do this properly in Aberdeen City, the council area covering the city itself rather than the surrounding Aberdeenshire: which of the four licences you need, what it costs, the paperwork that stalls applications, every tax layer, and who to phone when something goes wrong. Every figure below comes from Aberdeen City Council's or the Scottish Government's own pages, checked in July 2026. Before you commit to any of it, run the property through BNBCalc first.

What are Short-Term Rental (Airbnb, VRBO) Regulations in Aberdeen, UK?

Whether those numbers work at all depends on which of two layers of law you land in, and separating them clears up most of the confusion.

The bottom layer is Scottish, and it's the one that makes a licence compulsory everywhere. Article 4 of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) Order 2022 designates "a short-term let on or after 1 October 2022" as an activity requiring a licence. That one sentence does all the heavy lifting, because once an activity is designated, section 7(1) of the 1982 Act turns carrying it on without a licence into a criminal offence, punishable on summary conviction by a fine at level 4 on the standard scale. Level 4 is £2,500 today.

The top layer is Aberdeen City Council's own scheme, and this is where a council gets room to make choices. Some of Aberdeen's choices are generous and some are unusually strict, so it's worth knowing which is which before you plan around them.

Start with the generous one. Scottish councils can designate a short-term let control area, inside which turning a whole dwelling into a short-term let becomes a change of use needing planning permission automatically. Edinburgh did exactly that. Aberdeen hasn't, and says it doesn't intend to. Planning permission can still be required here, mind you, since the planning service judges case by case whether the change of use is material. Get that judgment wrong and it costs you the whole application: where permission is needed and you don't hold it, the council records the application as "Refused to Consider" and writes to you within seven days. At least you don't pay twice, because a fresh application submitted within 28 days of permission coming through attracts no further fee.

Now the strict ones, and three are worth flagging early.

• Aberdeen grants no temporary licences. Ever. The council states it will not grant one "under any circumstance", reviewed annually.
• Aberdeen grants no temporary exemptions either, on the same terms. In other Scottish council areas a temporary exemption can cover a single continuous period of up to six weeks in twelve months, so there's a legal way to let a property for one busy fortnight. There isn't one here.
• Your licence caps your guests, and children count. The council counts under-ones as zero, children aged one to nine as a half, and anyone ten or over as an adult, though you still need a bed for every guest including the halves.

Put those together and Aberdeen's shape becomes clear. Getting a licence is realistic, and there's no zoning map quietly ruling out half the city. What you can't do is test the water first, because there's no lawful way to take a single booking before the licence is in your hand.

Starting a Short-Term Rental Business in Aberdeen

Since testing the water isn't available, the sequence you work in still matters more here than in most cities. Do it in the wrong order and you'll pay a four-figure fee for an application the council won't consider.

Four licence types exist, and you pick one rather than getting all of them:

• Secondary letting, for a property you don't normally live in. This is the classic buy-to-let-turned-Airbnb, and it's the most expensive band.
• Home letting, for using all or part of your own home while you're away.
• Home sharing, for using part of your own home while you're there.
• Home letting and home sharing, which covers both patterns in one licence.

You may only offer the type you were granted, so a home sharer who starts letting the whole flat during a festival week is operating outside the licence, not stretching it. Keep in mind that the day-to-day manager has to be named as a licence holder too, which catches anyone planning to hand the keys to a management company later.

Before any of that, though, talk to the planning service. The council tells applicants to contact Planning first and follow whatever instructions come back, and given that a planning objection kills the application outright, that call is the cheapest hour you'll spend. The same team handles building warrants, which certain changes of use trigger under the Building (Scotland) Act 2003, along with listed building consent if you're in one of Aberdeen's granite-fronted listed properties and you're fitting smoke detectors or fire doors.

One more thing that surprises people, and it costs money every month rather than once. Short-term lets in Aberdeen count as a commercial use, so household bin collection doesn't cover you. You'll need a contract with the council's Business Waste and Recycling team or another licensed contractor, plus a Waste Transfer Notice kept for two years after it expires. Putting business waste in a domestic bin is an enforcement matter for the city wardens' waste compliance officers.

Aberdeen's scale is worth holding in your head while you plan. Its 524 licences sit inside a Scottish total of 32,317 in operation at the end of 2025, well behind Highland and Edinburgh. If you're comparing Scottish markets rather than committing to this one, the Inverness short-term rental guide covers the same licensing regime in a very different tourism economy.

Short-Term Rental Licensing Requirement in Aberdeen

Assuming planning is settled and you've picked your licence type, you can then look at the price. Aberdeen sets its fees on a cost-recovery basis and reviews them annually, so this table moves. These rates took effect on 1 January 2026, and the council charges the same for a first application as for a renewal.

Guest capacity	Home sharing and/or home letting	Secondary letting
1 to 2	£470.40	£492.80
3 to 4	£705.60	£739.20
5 to 6	£940.80	£985.60
7 to 8	£1,254.40	£1,310.40
9 to 12	£1,668.80	£1,752.80
13 or more	£3,337.60	£3,505.60

Source: Aberdeen City Council's short-term let fees page, as of July 2026.

That fee isn't a filing charge. It buys licence processing, the public notice you display and the council's inspection of it, and a fit and proper person test on everyone named. It also buys real inspections, one from the Private Sector Housing team plus whatever the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service wants, then up to two further visits and random checks for as long as the licence runs. Aberdeen is charging you for an inspection regime, and it delivers one.

The timeline is the part that catches new operators out. Licensing authorities have nine months to determine an application, and a licence lasts up to three years once granted. Somewhere in the middle of that you display the public notice, prominently, weather-protected, readable from the public footpath, for 21 days from the day you lodge, then complete a certificate of compliance online. Do photograph the notice in place, because if someone tears it down you're expected to replace it and record what happened. Objections can be lodged within 28 days of the notice date, and a single valid objection removes the application from delegated powers and sends it to the Licensing Committee for a hearing.

Objections are narrower than neighbours usually assume, which cuts in your favour. The council's guidance for objectors states that parking, title deeds and planning permission are governed by other legislation and "accordingly do not form grounds for refusal", that petitions are unlikely to be accepted, and that anonymous objections aren't considered at all. What does land is the statutory ground set: an applicant who isn't fit and proper, premises unsuitable for the activity, undue public nuisance, or public safety. Should the committee refuse you anyway, either side can appeal to the Sheriff within 28 days.

Every licence carries the mandatory conditions from the 2022 Order, and Aberdeen publishes them in full alongside two additional conditions its Licensing Committee added, on antisocial behaviour and on waste. The one that bites first is the listings condition: every advert, electronic or otherwise, must carry the licence number and a valid EPC rating where an EPC is required. Your Airbnb listing is therefore self-policing evidence, which matters for the enforcement section below.

Aberdeen's standards go further than the statutory minimum in a few places that will shape how you actually run the property. In flatted premises or anywhere with a shared entrance, guests must not first arrive or finally depart between 11pm and 7am. Hot tubs can't be used after 10pm, and amplified music outdoors stops at 11pm. LPG must not be used or stored on the premises at all. Public liability cover has to be at least £2m per dwelling, and your buildings insurance has to explicitly cover short-term letting, which a standard residential policy generally doesn't.

If the property changes hands, there's a transfer route at £95.20 that carries only the remaining term of the original licence, in the same category and at the same occupancy. Be aware that the council's January 2026 guidance note reads differently on one narrower point, saying that changing the day-to-day manager requires a new licence because the legislation doesn't permit transfers of that kind. Two council documents, two emphases, so ask the licensing team which applies to your situation before you restructure anything.

Required Documents for Aberdeen Short-Term Rentals

Since a refused application gets you nothing back, it's worth getting the evidence pack right the first time. Aberdeen treats an application as "incompetent" and won't process it unless all of this arrives with it:

• Scale floor plans, preferably 1:50, showing each level, room layouts, sanitary ware, cooking facilities, sockets, lighting points and switches, fire escape routes, the maximum guests per bedroom, and any provision for guests with mobility impairment.
• An Energy Performance Certificate, required for secondary lets, with a copy kept in the property.
• An annual gas safety certificate from a Gas Safe registered installer, where there's a gas supply.
• An Electrical Installation Condition Report no more than five years old, signed by a NICEIC or SELECT registered contractor, plus a current PAT certificate renewed at least annually for every plug-in appliance.
• A legionella risk assessment, whether or not the property is on a private water supply.
• Insurance evidence: buildings cover that includes the short-term let activity, and public liability cover of at least £2m per dwelling.
• A completed Scottish Fire and Rescue Service checklist, which SFRS uses to decide whether it wants its own audit of the premises.
• A structural engineer's report where RAAC is confirmed or suspected, prepared by a Chartered Structural Engineer or a similarly qualified professional following IStructE guidance.

Beyond the documents, one detail trips up more applications than the certificates do. Every owner has to be named and every owner has to consent, so a jointly owned flat needs the co-owner on board before you start, a company application has to name all directors and partners, and everyone named goes through the fit and proper person test. A business partner's history becomes your problem.

There are small physical requirements people forget as well: the EICR inspection label goes next to the consumer unit showing the last and next inspection dates, PAT-tested appliances each get a label, and any room lock has to work from a thumb-turn inside so a guest can get out in a fire.

Aberdeen Short-Term Rental Taxes

Assuming you get through all that and are able to start letting, there's still tax to deal with, and Aberdeen is about to add a layer that didn't exist a year ago. Four charges can touch a short-term let here, and because different bodies administer each one, they don't share thresholds or deadlines.

Charge	Rate	Collected by
Visitor levy (from 1 April 2027)	7% of the accommodation charge, before VAT	You, remitted to Aberdeen City Council
VAT	20%, once turnover passes £90,000	You, remitted to HMRC
Council tax on a second home	200% of the standard band charge	Aberdeen City Council
Income tax	Your marginal rate, as UK property business profit	You, via Self Assessment

Note what's missing from that table. Airbnb collects and remits no accommodation tax anywhere in the UK, and no UK jurisdiction appears on Airbnb's own list of collection areas. Every line above is yours to handle.

Tourist Tax

Aberdeen's is called a visitor levy, and it's the single biggest change since these rules were last worth reading. The council's Finance and Resources Committee approved a 7% levy on 6 August 2025 under the Visitor Levy (Scotland) Act 2024, notified Scottish Ministers in September 2025, and set a go-live date of 1 April 2027. It's charged on the accommodation portion only, before VAT, and it covers holiday and short-term lets explicitly, including home sharing, home letting and secondary homes.

Here's the part that matters in 2026 rather than 2027. The levy already reaches into bookings you take now. A night on or after 1 April 2027 escapes the levy only if the booking was concluded and a payment of some amount was received before 1 October 2026. Anything booked from 1 October 2026 onwards for a 2027 stay is liable, and a material amendment to an earlier booking, meaning a change to the dates, the rooms or the price, resets the clock and makes it liable too. So don't forget to keep booking confirmations and payment dates, because those records are what prove which side of the line a stay falls on, and the council requires them to be kept for five years.

Returns go through a national digital service, with Aberdeen onboarding from January 2027 and training offered from September 2026. Your first return and payment falls due in July 2027 covering April to June, then quarterly, and a nil quarter still needs a nil return. Aberdeen lets providers retain up to 2.5% of what they collect to cover card charges and accounting changes, which is a small mercy and not a profit.

Guests can be exempt, though the mechanics are awkward for hosts. Someone staying overnight for a medical appointment, or receiving disability-related benefits such as PIP, Attendance Allowance or Disability Living Allowance, is exempt, but the levy generally can't be deducted at booking and has to be reclaimed from the council afterwards. Charities can apply for a discretionary site exemption by emailing the visitor levy team, with an appeal route inside 28 days.

Income Tax

Your letting profit is ordinary taxable income, and the regime it sits in changed recently in a way that made short-term letting meaningfully less attractive across the whole UK. HMRC's guidance on the abolition of the furnished holiday lettings tax regime confirms FHL treatment ended for income tax and capital gains tax on 6 April 2025, and for corporation tax on 1 April 2025. Former FHL properties now sit inside your ordinary UK property business and are taxed like any other rental.

Four things went with it. Loan interest is restricted to basic rate relief, capital allowances on new expenditure give way to replacement of domestic items relief, the capital gains reliefs available on trading business assets are withdrawn, and the income no longer counts as relevant UK earnings for pension contribution purposes. If your Aberdeen numbers were modelled before April 2025 on a mortgage-heavy secondary let, they're wrong now, and the gap is mostly in the interest line.

Home sharers have a gentler option. The Rent a Room scheme exempts up to £7,500 a year of receipts from letting furnished rooms in your own home, halved to £3,750 where the income is shared, which fits Aberdeen's home sharing licence neatly.

Value Added Tax (VAT)

Holiday and short-stay accommodation is standard-rated, unlike long residential letting, so VAT applies at 20% on what you charge. Registration becomes compulsory once your taxable turnover passes £90,000 in any rolling twelve months, and you'll want to watch that threshold if you're running several Aberdeen properties through one entity, since it's the person that registers rather than the property. Remember that the visitor levy sits inside the accommodation price for VAT purposes, so from April 2027 the levy portion carries the same VAT treatment as the room.

Council Tax

This is where Aberdeen's second-home owners took a real hit, and plenty still haven't noticed. Following the council's budget meeting on 6 March 2024, an additional 100% levy was approved, so from 1 April 2024 every property classed as a second home pays 200% council tax. The doubling doesn't extend to water and wastewater charges. A second home means a furnished property that isn't anyone's sole or main residence and is occupied at least 25 days a year, and it applies to rented properties as well as owned ones.

The way out is non-domestic rates. A self-catering property moves onto the valuation roll instead of the council tax list when it meets all four tests: it isn't anyone's only or main residence, it's let commercially with the intention of making a profit, it's available to let for 140 nights or more in the financial year, and it's actually let for 70 nights or more. That 70-night floor is the one that decides it, and a property that misses it stays on double council tax. Do check your actual let nights against that number before the financial year closes, rather than after.

Possible Write-Offs and Deductions

Deductions now follow ordinary property business rules, which is simpler to explain than the old FHL patchwork even if it's worse for you. Running costs wholly and exclusively for the letting come off the profit: the licence fee itself, insurance, the commercial waste contract, cleaning, letting agency and platform commission, utilities, repairs and maintenance, and the safety certificates the licence obliges you to renew. Replacement of domestic items relief covers like-for-like replacement of furniture, furnishings, appliances and kitchenware, though not the initial fit-out.

Where a home sharing licence means guests use only part of the property, you apportion, and that apportionment has to be reasonable and consistent. Anything more complicated, especially the interest restriction inside a company structure, is a conversation with an accountant rather than something to model off a guide.

Scotland Wide Short-Term Rental Rules

Aberdeen's scheme only makes sense as one implementation of a national one, so it helps to see the frame around it.

There is no UK-wide short-term let statute, because housing and licensing are devolved. England has no register in force, Wales opens registration in October 2026, and Scotland went first and went furthest: it's the only nation with a live, mandatory, whole-country licence. Every council in Scotland runs the same scheme under SSI 2022/32, with the same four licence types, the same Schedule 3 mandatory conditions, and the same three-year maximum on a first licence.

What varies between councils is real money and real risk. Fees are set locally on a cost-recovery basis, so the £492.80 that a small Aberdeen secondary let costs is an Aberdeen number rather than a Scottish one. Control areas are a local designation too, made under section 26B of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997, and inside one the planning question stops being a judgment call. Visitor levies are the third local variable, since the 2024 Act gives every council the power to set a percentage rate and its own start date, and Edinburgh and Glasgow moved before Aberdeen did.

The Scottish numbers give you a sense of what compliance actually looked like. By 31 December 2025 the Scottish Government recorded 42,355 applications received, 90% of validated applications granted, and 32,317 licences in operation, of which 78% were secondary lets. That is not a market that got shut down. It's one that got expensive and slow to enter, which are different problems with different answers.

Compare that with England, where the national register promised under the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 still hasn't been brought into force, and the whole question turns on whether your council treats the change of use as material. Our Newcastle short-term rental guide covers what that looks like in an English city of similar size, and the Leeds guide covers a bigger one.

Does Aberdeen Strictly Enforce STR Rules?

Yes, though not in the way the phrase usually implies. Aberdeen doesn't run a complaints-and-citations model where an operator absorbs the odd fine as a cost of doing business. It front-loads enforcement into the licence, so most of the pressure arrives before you take your first booking rather than after.

Count what the council does before granting. It inspects the property. It inspects your public notice on the wall. It runs a fit and proper person test on every named individual. It consults Police Scotland, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and its own planning team, any of which can stop the application. Then it reserves the right to inspect at random for the full three years, and the fee you already paid covers those visits.

The paper trail after that is unusually public. Aberdeen maintains a searchable public register of applications and granted licences, which anyone can query by postcode, and the mandatory conditions require your licence number in every advert. A neighbour who suspects an unlicensed let can therefore check the register, compare it with your listing, and report it through the council's complaints form or by emailing the short-term lets team. Watch out for the reverse of that too: an advert with no licence number is the easiest thing in this entire regime to spot.

On the numbers, Aberdeen has received 682 valid applications since the scheme began, with 30 still awaiting determination at the end of 2025 and 524 licences in operation. The Scottish Government's local-authority tables don't split Aberdeen's grants from its refusals and withdrawals, and the council publishes no enforcement statistics of its own, so I won't put a refusal rate on it. What the figures do show is a scheme that's processing steadily rather than one that's been quietly abandoned.

The penalty side is where the position is genuinely shifting. The maximum fine for operating without a licence sits at £2,500, level 4 on the standard scale. The council's own January 2026 guidance note then tells applicants that "the Scottish Government plans to raise this to £50,000 and allow imprisonment as a last resort". I couldn't find a Bill or instrument on legislation.gov.uk that has enacted that yet, so treat it as a stated intention rather than a rule. Breaching a licence condition, failing to report a material change, or making a false statement each carry their own offences alongside it.

How to Start a Short-Term Rental Business in Aberdeen

Given all that, the order below saves you the most money, because the early steps tell you whether the later ones are worth paying for.

1. Call the planning service first. Ask whether your intended use is a material change requiring permission, on 01224 053746 or at [email protected]. A planning objection turns your application into a "Refused to Consider" and the fee doesn't come back.
2. Check whether you need a building warrant or listed building consent. Certain changes of use count as conversions under the Building (Scotland) Act 2003, and listed-building work such as fitting detection systems or fire doors needs its own consent.
3. Pick your licence type and your maximum occupancy carefully. The fee bands step up sharply at 7, 9 and 13 guests, and the occupancy on the licence is a hard ceiling you can't quietly exceed.
4. Get the certificates in hand before applying: EICR, PAT, gas safety, EPC, legionella assessment, floor plans, and insurance that names short-term letting.
5. Get every owner and every day-to-day manager named and consenting. They'll each face the fit and proper person test, so raise it early rather than mid-application.
6. Apply and pay. Fees run £470.40 to £3,505.60, are identical for renewals, and are non-refundable once you're refused.
7. Display the public notice for 21 days, weather-protected and readable from the footpath, photograph it, and complete the certificate of compliance online.
8. Expect inspections, and expect them to take a while. The council has nine months to determine, Private Sector Housing will visit, and SFRS may audit separately.
9. Set up a commercial waste contract and keep the Waste Transfer Notice for two years after expiry.
10. Once granted, put the licence number and EPC rating in every listing, keep a certified copy of the licence and the safety reports in the property for guests, and diarise the expiry, since the licence runs three years at most and renewal costs the same.

Who to Contact in Aberdeen about Short-Term Rental Regulations and Zoning?

Whichever of those steps stalls, three teams handle nearly all of it, and picking the right one first saves a week.

Short-term let licensing sits with the Private Sector Housing team, which administers the scheme on behalf of the council, processes applications, receives objections and investigates unlicensed operators.

• Email: [email protected]
• Phone: 01224 067 575
• Post: Private Sector Housing, Business Hub 11, Second Floor West, Marischal College, Broad Street, Aberdeen, AB10 1AB
• Apply, renew, object or search the register: through the council's short-term lets pages

Planning, building warrants and listed building consent are handled by the same contact point, and this is the number to use before you apply for anything else.

• Email: [email protected]
• Phone: 01224 053746

The visitor levy has its own team, and it's the right address for exemptions, refunds, discretionary site exemptions, appeals and anything about how the levy has been applied.

• Email: [email protected]
• Guidance: the council's visitor levy pages, which it says will be updated as 1 April 2027 approaches

For council tax questions, including whether your property is classed as a second home, the Customer Contact Centre takes calls on 03000 200 292, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. The Customer Service Centre on the ground floor of Marischal College, Broad Street, Aberdeen, AB10 1AB is open the same hours, though it runs on appointments for non-emergency business, so phone before you travel.

What Do Airbnb Hosts in Aberdeen on Reddit and Bigger Pockets Think about Local Regulations?

Talk to enough Aberdeen operators and the complaints cluster in a fairly predictable place, though what follows is my read of public discourse in the sector rather than any kind of survey, so do weigh it accordingly.

• The fee, not the rules, is what people object to. A four-guest secondary let pays £739.20 every three years before a single guest arrives, and a larger property in the 9 to 12 band pays £1,752.80. Operators who host a spare room a few weeks a year find that hard to square, and Aberdeen's refusal to grant any temporary exemption removes the obvious escape route.
• The nine-month determination window is the practical killer. A new entrant can't lawfully take a booking before the licence is granted, so they carry a mortgage on an empty property while the file moves.
• The safety paperwork splits the room. Professional operators tend to have the EICR, PAT and gas certificates anyway, so the scheme costs them a form. Accidental hosts letting a spare room discover that a legionella risk assessment is now their problem.
• The visitor levy has reopened the argument. A 7% charge on the accommodation price is more than most Aberdeen hosts clear in margin on a slow week, and the transitional cut-off of 1 October 2026 means it's already shaping how 2027 bookings get priced.
• Almost nobody argues the rules go unenforced. Once every listing has to display a licence number, the debate stops being about whether you'll be caught and becomes about whether the cost is proportionate. That's a different conversation, and a healthier one.

That last point changes what due diligence looks like. In a city like this, the regulatory question is answerable in an afternoon: read the fee bands, call planning, count your guest capacity. The harder question is whether the property earns enough to absorb a licence, doubled council tax, a commercial waste contract and eventually a 7% levy, which is exactly what the Aberdeen market data is for. Get the numbers first, then decide whether the paperwork is worth starting.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you need a licence to run an Airbnb in Aberdeen in 2026?

Yes. Every short-term let in Scotland has required a licence since 1 October 2022 under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) Order 2022, and Aberdeen City Council issues them for the city. Operating without one is a criminal offence carrying a fine of up to £2,500. Aberdeen grants no temporary licences and no temporary exemptions, so there's no lawful way to take a booking before the licence is in place.

How much does an Aberdeen short-term let licence cost?

Fees effective 1 January 2026 depend on guest capacity and licence type, and they're identical for a first application and a renewal. A home sharing or home letting licence runs from £470.40 for one or two guests to £3,337.60 for thirteen or more. A secondary letting licence runs from £492.80 to £3,505.60 across the same bands. Transferring an existing licence costs £95.20. Fees are not refunded if the application is refused.

Does Aberdeen have a short-term let control area?

No. Aberdeen City Council states in its January 2026 guidance that no significant or city-wide issues are evident in the city and there is no intention to designate a control area at this time. Planning permission can still be required, because the planning service decides case by case whether a change of use is material. Where permission is needed and not held, the licence application is refused to be considered, so contact the planning service before applying.

When does Aberdeen's tourist tax start and what is the rate?

Aberdeen City Council's Finance and Resources Committee approved a 7% visitor levy on 6 August 2025, applying from 1 April 2027 to paid overnight accommodation including short-term lets. It's charged on the accommodation portion before VAT. A stay on or after 1 April 2027 avoids the levy only if the booking was concluded and part-paid before 1 October 2026. Providers may retain up to 2.5% of what they collect, and the first return is due in July 2027.

How much council tax does a second home pay in Aberdeen?

Aberdeen City Council approved a 100% additional levy at its budget meeting on 6 March 2024, so from 1 April 2024 properties classed as second homes pay 200% council tax. The doubling excludes water and wastewater charges. A second home is a furnished property that is not someone's sole or main residence and is occupied at least 25 days a year. A property available to let 140 nights and actually let 70 nights in the financial year moves to non-domestic rates instead.

Last verified: July 2026. Every ordinance, tax rate, state law, and contact detail in this guide links to or comes from its official source.