The majority of whole property short-term lets advertised in Edinburgh may be unlawful, according to early results from a new data tool that suggests that almost all are operating without planning consent.

Exclusive analysis for the Guardian published last month revealed that Airbnb has become so prevalent across Britain that some parts of the country have one listing for every four properties, with the highest incidence in Edinburgh old town, bolstering concerns that short-term lets are depriving communities of much-needed homes.

The online tracking tool to chart the scale of short-term lets available across Scotland was launched by the Scottish Green MSP Andy Wightman in January, and allows people to report properties in their local area that are operating as commercial lets.

In early figures seen by the Guardian, of the 359 commercial short-term lets recorded so far, only one has planning consent according to information publicly available from Edinburgh city council. The council’s position is that commercial short-term letting is a material change of use requiring planning permission. If these results were replicated across Scotland, that would suggest 99.7% of short-term lets in Scotland could be unlawful.

Wightman, whose campaigning work on short-term lets was prompted by stories of individual distress and disrupted communities from his Edinburgh constituents, notes that there are 480 listings for Edinburgh on the website of public agency VisitScotland.

The Lothian region MSP, who has led on the issue, said: “This early picture from my Homes First site reveals the depressing truth of how out of control this sector is. All but one of the properties identified so far have no planning consent to be a short-term let. Any property that should have planning consent but does not is unlawful.

“While proposed new licensing powers are welcome, they will not be of much use if owners are so willing to flout planning laws. The Scottish government’s commitment to regulation is further undermined by the fact that Visit Scotland, which has a strategic partnership with Airbnb, is actively promoting holiday accommodation that is unlawful despite encouraging visitors to book only licensed and regulated accommodation. Scottish ministers should ask their own tourism agency to stop advertising unlawful businesses.”

In January, as a direct response to concerns raised by local residents of popular tourist destinations, the Scottish government announced councils would be given new powers to introduce licensing schemes for short-term lets from 2021.

Neil Gardiner, planning convener for Edinburgh city council, said: “We’ll always use the existing powers we have through planning enforcement to investigate cases reported to us as we are very clear that we want properties unlawfully taken out of housing supply to be returned to being people’s homes.

“This is very resource-intensive though and we’re continuing to proactively work with the Scottish government to introduce a licensing regime which will give us far greater control over the sector in the future. Our consultation on ‘Choices for City Plan 2030’ is also currently under way. It is asking people, along with many other questions, if Edinburgh should be a short-term let control zone implemented through new planning policies.”