Thinking of selling your holiday let?
Most owners who look into selling don't want rid of the property. They want rid of the work. There are three ways out of that, and only one of them involves a For Sale sign.
A conversation, not a pitch. We'll tell you honestly if selling isn't your best move.
The job changed, and nobody asked the owners first
The tax reliefs went
The furnished holiday lettings regime was abolished on 6 April 2025, taking the capital allowances and the capital-gains treatment with it. For a lot of owners that was the reason the numbers worked.
Licensing made it a business
Licences, certificates, renewal dates, insurance evidence. What used to be a holiday cottage now has a compliance file and a date in the diary.
The work never stops
Messages at eleven at night, a cleaner off sick on a Saturday, a boiler on the one weekend you're away. Ten years of it is enough for anyone.
None of that makes the property a bad asset. It usually means the job has stopped being worth it, which is why we'd rather talk about three options than one.
One of these will fit. It isn't always the sale.
We buy it
We buy the property and keep it running as a holiday let. No agent, no viewings, no chain, no empty months while it sits on the market.
- Your forward bookings are honoured, not cancelled
- No photographs, no open days, no strangers in the house
- We handle the licence transfer with you
Suits: owners who want a clean, quiet exit and a date they can plan around.
We help you sell it
Sold as a running business rather than an empty cottage, to a buyer who wants the bookings, the reviews and the licence — usually worth more than the bricks alone.
- We put the trading figures together properly
- We keep it earning while it's on the market
- You use your own solicitor throughout
Suits: owners who want the best price and aren't in a hurry.
You keep it. We run it.
You stop doing the work and keep the income, the asset and whatever it's worth in ten years. For most people who start looking into selling, this is the thing they actually wanted.
- Five booking channels, priced daily
- Every guest, message and changeover handled
- Licence and certificate dates tracked for you
Suits: owners who are tired, not finished.
A running holiday let is worth more than the same house, empty
An estate agent values the building. A buyer who wants a holiday let is also buying a trading history, a guest list and a licence that would otherwise take months to get. That difference is real money, and it disappears the moment the calendar is emptied and the listing comes down.
So before you do anything else: don't cancel the bookings.
What happens to your licence when you sell
A short-term let licence doesn't simply pass to whoever buys the house. It has to be transferred, and the application can only be made by the current licence holder, which is you. The buyer completes their part; you have to start it.
That's the detail owners discover at the worst possible moment: after agreeing a sale, when the buyer finds the property can't legally take bookings in their name yet.
Sell to a buyer who has never done it and you'll be walking them through it. We do this for a living. Our guide to short-term let licensing in Fife covers the costs and timings in full.
The practical points
- Only the current licence holder can apply for the transfer
- Joint holders must all consent, or the application is refused
- The buyer must evidence their own buildings and public liability insurance
- The transfer fee in Fife is £78
- A brand new licence can take up to nine months, which is why the existing one is worth protecting
Rules vary by council and change over time. Check the current position with Fife Council before you commit to anything.
Four conversations we have most weeks
“We're retiring”
The cottage was meant to be the pension and now it's the job. Sometimes the answer is to sell. Often it's to keep the income and hand over the work, which is worth doing the sums on before you decide.
“We've inherited it”
A family property with bookings already taken, several people with a say, and nobody local enough to meet a guest. We can keep it running while you decide, so the decision isn't made by a deadline.
“We've moved away”
Running a Fife property from the other end of the country works until the day it doesn't. Usually that day involves a locksmith.
“We've had enough”
No crisis, no drama. Ten years of changeovers and late-night messages and the enthusiasm has gone. That's a good enough reason, and it doesn't always mean selling.
Three steps, and you can stop at any of them
Tell us about the property
Where it is, how many it sleeps, whether it's licensed and roughly what it takes a year. Two minutes.
We do the homework
What it would sell for empty, what it's worth as a running business, and what it would earn if you kept it and we ran it. All three numbers, in writing, within two working days.
You choose, or you don't
Plenty of owners take the figures and do nothing for a year. That's a perfectly good outcome and it costs you nothing.
Selling a holiday let in Scotland
Can I sell a holiday let with bookings already taken?
Yes, and you usually should. Forward bookings are part of what makes the property worth more than an empty house. A buyer who intends to keep letting it will honour them. Cancelling the calendar before you sell destroys value and damages your reviews on the way out.
Does my short-term let licence transfer to the buyer?
It can be transferred, but it doesn't happen automatically. Only the current licence holder can apply, the buyer completes their section, and all joint holders must consent. In Fife the transfer fee is £78. A new licence applied for from scratch can take up to nine months.
Do I pay capital gains tax when I sell a holiday let?
Usually, yes, on the gain. The furnished holiday lettings regime was abolished on 6 April 2025, which removed the capital-gains reliefs that used to apply to qualifying holiday lets. What you pay depends on your own circumstances, so take advice from an accountant before you commit to a sale.
What is my holiday let actually worth?
Three different numbers, and they're rarely the same: the empty-property value an estate agent would quote, the value as a running business with bookings and a licence, and the income it would produce if you kept it and had it managed. We'll give you all three so you can compare like with like.
I don't really want to sell. I'm just tired of running it.
Then don't sell. Our property management service takes over the listings, pricing, guests, changeovers and licence paperwork while you keep the property and the income. Most owners who contact this page end up here.
Find out what your holiday let is actually worth
Tell us about the property and we'll come back within two working days with all three figures — sale, sale as a running business, and what it would earn under management. Then you decide what to do with them.
James or John will phone you. Not a call centre, and not a chaser every week afterwards.
We take on a limited number of properties and look at every one personally.
About your property
Prefer to talk first? WhatsApp us or call 07840 093721
Urban Haggis Stays is a short-term let operator and management company, not solicitors, surveyors or tax advisers. The information on this page is general information about how holiday lets change hands in Scotland. Take your own legal and tax advice before selling, and your own valuation advice before accepting any offer, including ours.