IS it legal to run a B&B from a rented house in Scotland?
Your rented house will be a residential property – that is, for residential use only . In order to change a property from Residential to Commercial (or back again) you will need to apply to the Council’s planning department. Changing between the two is a long and sometimes expensive process. Local residents will be consulted, by the council, and will probably object to the residential property becoming a hostel…. This recently happened in Edinburgh, where someone opened a hostel without permission. The Council’s planning department took the property owner to court to change the property use back to what they had planning for (residential). Further – unless he knows about it, your landlord will likely have a fit. Most landlords would have an abortion if you did something trivial, for example, changed from post-paid gas to meter gas / electricity.
