A COUPLE who rent out their East Lothian home through Airbnb for an average of two months a year are appealing, after planners said that the holiday use was unauthorised.

Amanda White applied for a change of use of her ground-floor flat in East Linton to a short-term holiday let but it was rejected because it shared an entrance with five other properties.

However, Ms White – who says that she and her partner bought the flat 14 years ago and use it as a home to be near grandchildren and family – argues that it is only used for about 59 days a year as a holiday home, with only two people allowed to rent it at any given time.

In an appeal to go before the council’s local review body later this year, she says: "This is my home and I let the property when my partner and I are not residing at the property. I consider it a home let rather than a holiday let.”

Ms White said that the flat, on The Square in the village, was mainly booked for two to three days at a time but, occasionally, for longer, with some people using it while waiting for new homes to be ready after relocating to East Lothian.

Planning officers refused to allow the change of use after ruling that the communal entrance made it “incompatible with and harmful to the amenity of the occupants of other flatted properties used as residential dwellings within the building.”

And they said that their housing colleagues had objected to the change of use on the grounds that, as a ground-floor flat which would be adaptable, it would be a "significant loss".

Rejecting the retrospective application, planners said: “The application property as a holiday let is unauthorised and a breach of planning control.

“Enforcement action will be taken to ensure the cessation of the holiday let use, with the period for compliance with the enforcement notice being three months.”

The review body will hear the appeal in September.