London's 90-Day Rule for Airbnb and Short Lets
The figures in the worked example are made up.
A whole home in Greater London can only be let for short stays for 90 nights a year without planning permission. The full rules, and how to let it for the rest of the year.
- Category
- Short Lets
- Who it is for
- Whole-home short lets in Greater London
- Time to set up
- One planning session a year, then a monthly count
- Saves or earns
- About £15,000 a year per flat
01The Problem
This is what most people call the 90-day rule. In Greater London, letting a home for stays of under 90 nights in a row counts as a change of use that needs planning permission. Section 25A of the Greater London Council (General Powers) Act 1973, added by the Deregulation Act 2015, lifts that need only if two conditions are both met:
The 90 Nights
The short-stay nights, added up across the calendar year from 1 January, must not go over 90. It counts nights across every booking and every platform, not bookings.
Council Tax
For each of those nights, the person providing the home must be liable for council tax on it. If the flat has moved onto business rates, this condition fails and the exception goes with it.
Two more things can stop you before you start. The council or the Secretary of State can switch the exception off for particular buildings or areas, under section 25B. And your lease and your mortgage may ban short lets anyway. Those are private contracts, not planning, so the 90 nights do not help you there.
The rule is about whole homes. Letting a room in the home you live in is generally not a change of use and does not use up the 90 nights.
Airbnb stops whole-home London listings taking more bookings once they reach 90 nights in a year, unless you show it you have permission. Other platforms may not stop you, but the limit is for all of them together. Councils can serve an enforcement notice, and not complying with one is a criminal offence with an unlimited fine. Since April 2024, councils in England have ten years to act on most planning breaches. A national registration scheme for short lets in England is now expected from March 2027, which will make it easier for councils to see who is letting what.
02The Cost
The 90 nights are not the real problem. How they are spent is. An operator who takes bookings as they come uses them up by April on £130 to £140 weeknights, then sits out July, August and the big event weeks, when the same flat sells for £200 or more.
The old way to fill the rest of the year was a six-month tenancy. That has gone. From 1 May 2026, under the Renters' Rights Act, a new tenancy to someone living in the home as their main home is an assured periodic tenancy: no fixed term and no section 21. The tenant can stay until they choose to leave or you prove a ground for possession in court. Put your short-let flat on an ordinary tenancy now and you may not get it back for the summer.
Worked number, a one-bed in zone 2. Taking bookings as they come: 90 nights at an average of £140 is £12,600. Add a three-month let found late at £2,000 a month, £6,000. That is about £18,600 a year, with the flat empty for about half the year.
03The Fix
Check You Qualify Before You Plan
Confirm the lease allows short lets, your lender has given written consent, the council has not switched the exception off for your building, and the flat pays council tax, not business rates. If you are unsure, ask the council's planning team in writing. Check your own position with a solicitor before you spend money furnishing.
Know What Counts
Every night of every stay under 90 nights in a row counts toward the 90. A 60-night stay uses 60 of your 90. A single stay of 90 nights or more is outside the short-stay rule. So your off-season product is stays of at least 90 nights, never one or two months.
Spend the 90 Nights on Your Best Dates
Pull last year's prices for similar flats from AirDNA or PriceLabs market data. Pick out your top 90 nights: usually weekends from June to September, the Wimbledon fortnight, big concert and sports weekends, and Christmas to New Year. Open those dates early at full price and close the calendar to short stays everywhere else.
Fill the Rest with Company Lets of 90 Nights or More
Let to a company, not a person: a relocation agent, a firm sending staff on a project, or a firm that houses families for insurers after a flood or fire. Only an individual can hold an assured tenancy, so a let to a company is not one. Use a written agreement with fixed dates, the company as the tenant and the people staying named in it. A let to an individual who makes it their main home would become an assured periodic tenancy, which is exactly what you are trying to avoid.
Fit the Two Around Each Other
For example: a company let from 6 January to 15 April (100 nights), short stays from May to September on your 90 best nights, and a second company let from 1 October to 31 December (92 nights). Use the gaps for repairs and a deep clean.
Set the Flat Up for Both Kinds of Guest
People staying three months want a real desk and chair, fast wifi, a washer dryer, proper wardrobe space and a weekly clean. That is about £400 to £600 once, and it helps your short-stay reviews too.
Keep Your Own Count
A simple spreadsheet: every short stay, the platform, the dates and the nights, with a running total. Stop at 85 to leave room for mistakes. If the council asks, you can send the figures the same day.
Think About Planning Permission for Your Best Flats
You can apply to go over 90 nights. Many London councils turn these down for homes that would otherwise house residents, so pay a planning consultant for an hour on local policy before you pay for an application.
04The Result
Before
About £18,600: 90 nights at £140 used up by April, then one late three-month let
After
About £36,200: 90 nights at £205 on the best dates, plus company lets of 100 and 92 nights
Cost
About £500 to set up the flat, plus agent commission and platform fees on the higher takings
Better Off
About £15,000 a year
The sums: the 90 best nights at £205 make £18,450, and the two company lets at about £2,700 and £2,950 a month make about £17,750. That is £17,600 more than before. Take off about £900 more in platform fees, about £1,200 more in agent commission and £500 of set-up, and you are about £15,000 better off.
The Lessons
- The exception needs both conditions: no more than 90 short-stay nights a year, and council tax paid on the home.
- Every stay under 90 nights in a row counts, on every platform, so keep your own total.
- Spend your 90 nights on the dates with the highest prices.
- Fill the rest of the year with company lets of 90 nights or more, not tenancies to individuals.
- Check the lease, the mortgage and your council before you plan the year.
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