London 90-day short-let rule (2026)

Prompt: 4.2 Researched: 15 April 2026 Perplexity model: GPT-5.1 Status: Raw research / draft

If you short-let an entire home anywhere in Greater London for more than 90 nights in a calendar year without planning permission, you are in breach of planning law and risk fines up to GBP 20,000 per offence (still cited in 2026).

This is general guidance, not personal legal advice: speak to a planning consultant or solicitor before you act on it.

1. Legal basis: where the 90-day rule comes from

London's 90-day rule is a planning rule, not an Airbnb term and not a tenancy rule.

Greater London Council (General Powers) Act 1973 s25 says using residential premises in Greater London as temporary sleeping accommodation is a material change of use, which normally needs planning permission.

Deregulation Act 2015 s44-45 added s25A and related provisions, creating an exception: if certain conditions are met, short-term use up to 90 nights in a calendar year does not count as a material change of use.

Government statements on these changes confirm that breaches of the planning rules can attract fines up to GBP 20,000 per offence for failing to secure planning permission.

As of 2026, this structure is still in force: the Deregulation Act relaxation is live, the 1973 Act still underpins enforcement, and councils are tightening how they use both.

2. What the 90-day rule actually says (2026 position)

In plain English: if your place is a normal home in Greater London and you are liable for council tax on it, you can short-let it as an entire home for up to 90 nights per calendar year without planning consent. Go over 90 and you need planning permission.

The Greater London Authority and planning firms summarise the current 2026 position like this:

• The total nights your residential property is used as temporary sleeping accommodation (short-term lets) must not exceed 90 nights in any one calendar year (1 January to 31 December).
• At least one of the people providing the short-term accommodation must be liable for council tax at that property.
• If those conditions are met, that short-term use does not involve a material change of use, so you do not need planning permission.
• If your property is used as temporary sleeping accommodation for more than 90 nights in that calendar year without specific planning permission, the use becomes unlawful under planning law.

3. What counts as a "night" and how it is calculated

The law refers to "temporary sleeping accommodation" and counts nights in a calendar year.

In practice, based on GLA and legal commentary:

• A night counts if a guest sleeps there overnight under a short-term booking, whether via Airbnb, Booking.com, VRBO or direct.
• A booking from 1-5 May counts as 4 nights towards your 90-night total, regardless of the exact check-in or check-out time.
• The cap is per property, per calendar year (1 January to 31 December), not per tax year and not per host.
• It is an aggregate figure: all platforms and direct bookings to that property add up to the same 90-night limit. You do not get 90 nights per platform.

Legal commentary also confirms that "temporary sleeping accommodation" means short stays (under 90 consecutive nights) rather than standard ASTs, so almost every typical short-let booking is inside the regime.

4. Worked example: how fast 90 nights gets eaten

You list your Hackney flat as an entire-home short-let from March 2026.

• You average 3 bookings a month, each 4 nights long.
• That is 12 nights per month.
• By the end of October you have hit 96 nights for 2026.
• Airbnb blocked you at 90 nights, but in September you took 2 direct bookings from repeat guests totalling 8 nights, pushing you to 98 nights.

Result:

You are 8 nights over the 90-night limit for the 2026 calendar year without planning permission. Those extra nights are a material change of use and a breach of planning law. The council can serve a planning enforcement notice and, if you ignore it, prosecute, with fines up to GBP 20,000 per offence (figure still quoted in 2026 guidance and case commentary).

The maths is the point: a "few weekends a month" quickly pushes you past 90 nights once you are booked most of the year.

5. What happens if you exceed 90 nights without permission

Once you pass 90 occupied nights in a calendar year for an entire-home short-let and you do not have specific planning permission, you are outside the Deregulation Act exception.

Consequences:

• The use beyond 90 nights is a material change of use from C3 residential to a short-term letting use under GLC Act 1973 s25 as amended.
• Your local borough can serve a planning enforcement notice ordering you to stop the unauthorised short-term use and revert to compliant use.
• If you ignore the notice, you can be prosecuted and face fines up to GBP 20,000 per offence, a figure the government has repeatedly cited in its London short-term use statements and which planning firms still quote in 2025-26 guides.
• A history of unauthorised use and enforcement can hurt your chances of ever getting a change-of-use permission for that flat.

If you want to operate over 90 nights per calendar year, you need planning permission (or a lawful existing use) for short-term use on that property.

6. Exemptions: when the 90-day limit does not apply

The main way out of the 90-night cap is to stop relying on the Deregulation Act exception and get full planning consent.

The position in 2026:

• If your property already has explicit planning permission for short-term letting (often recorded as a sui generis use or specific short-stay consent), the 90-night limit does not apply to that property, because its lawful use is not C3 relying on the exception.
• Some buildings may have historic or site-specific planning conditions that ban short-lets entirely, or only allow them in certain ways. You are still bound by those, regardless of the 90-night rule.
• In theory, the Secretary of State can also disapply the Deregulation Act relaxation in specific areas, making all short-term use need permission, though in practice most focus is on tightening planning policy and Article 4 directions, not removing the 90-night exception.

So the exemption is not "the rule doesn't apply to me", it is "I have a different lawful use, with its own protections and restrictions".

7. How councils monitor and enforce it (2026 reality)

Councils now combine platform data, neighbour complaints and targeted enforcement teams.

Monitoring routes:

• Platform scraping and data sharing: boroughs monitor Airbnb, Booking.com and similar for listings that look like full-time short-lets and cross-check addresses against council tax and planning records.
• Neighbour complaints: noise, constant suitcases, key safes and cleaning teams are the main triggers for investigations in 2025-26.
• Dedicated enforcement teams: councils like the City of London and Westminster have dedicated officers policing short-term letting and issuing enforcement notices.

Enforcement tools:

• Planning contravention notices asking you for information on how the property is used.
• Enforcement notices requiring you to stop short-letting beyond 90 nights and sometimes to remove key safes, signage and adverts.
• Prosecution in the magistrates' court if you ignore the notice, with fines up to GBP 20,000 per offence, plus possible costs.

8. Airbnb, Booking.com and VRBO behaviour

The law is platform-neutral, but platforms respond differently.

Airbnb

Since January 2017, Airbnb has enforced a 90-night cap per calendar year for entire-home listings in Greater London.

When an entire-home listing hits 90 nights of bookings in a calendar year, Airbnb automatically blocks further short-stay bookings unless you provide evidence of planning permission or an exemption, at which point they may lift the cap.

Airbnb's cap is a self-imposed compliance tool, not the law itself. It does not count nights you take via other platforms or direct bookings.

Booking.com, VRBO and others

Booking.com and VRBO (HomeAway) do not universally enforce an automatic 90-night block in London as of 2025-26.

You can often keep taking bookings past 90 nights on those sites, but that does not change your legal exposure if you lack planning permission.

Some management companies route extra bookings through other platforms or direct once the Airbnb limit hits. That may keep the income flowing, but each extra night still pushes you further into breach under GLC Act 1973 s25.

9. Subletting: if you are a tenant, not the freeholder

If you are a tenant using Airbnb or similar in London, you have two sets of problems: planning and your own lease.

• Planning law: the 90-night cap and planning permission requirement still apply, because they attach to the use of the property, not who owns it.
• Tenancy or lease terms: most ASTs and long leases either ban subletting or require written landlord / freeholder consent, and often prohibit business use.

If you ignore both:

• The council can still take planning enforcement action for exceeding 90 nights without permission.
• Your landlord or freeholder can treat it as a breach of tenancy or lease, move to evict you, or seek costs if they face enforcement because of what you have done.

"Airbnb lets me list it so it must be allowed" is one of the most expensive assumptions London tenants make.

10. Council-by-council enforcement differences

The 90-night rule is London-wide, but the risk you actually face depends heavily on the borough.

• Westminster is widely regarded as the toughest: they run proactive enforcement, scan platforms, and bring cases over unlawful short-letting, especially in central blocks.
• Kensington & Chelsea, Camden and Tower Hamlets also invest in short-let enforcement teams, particularly in areas with heavy tourist pressure or repeated complaints.
• Many outer boroughs in Zones 4-6 focus on nuisance cases and blatant multi-unit operations: if you run one quiet flat and stay close to 90 nights, the chance of active enforcement is lower, though the risk is never zero.

The law is the same, but the odds of a knock on the door are very different in a Soho block compared with a semi in Zone 5.

11. Common 90-day rule mistakes and forum myths

What London hosts get wrong, over and over:

"It is 90 days per platform."

Incorrect. The law counts total nights the property is used as temporary sleeping accommodation in the calendar year, across all platforms and direct bookings.

"Only Airbnb has a 90-day rule, Booking.com is fine."

Airbnb has a platform cap from January 2017; Booking.com and VRBO often do not. The legal 90-night limit applies regardless of platform.

"If Airbnb lets me accept a booking, it must be legal."

Airbnb's counter only sees stays booked through Airbnb. Once you add direct or other-platform bookings on top, you can go well past 90 nights in law even if Airbnb has stopped you at 90.

"It is 90 bookings, not 90 nights."

The legislation and GLA guidance are clear: it is nights, not stays. One 60-night corporate booking eats two-thirds of your allowance in one go.

"It does not apply to rooms, only whole flats."

The statutory rule is about temporary sleeping accommodation in residential premises; enforcement and Airbnb's automatic cap focus on entire-home listings, but councils can still go after abusive "room" setups if they function like unlicensed hotels.

"Planning will never notice my one flat."

In boroughs like Westminster, K&C and Camden, planning officers explicitly monitor platforms and act on complaints; local and national media have covered enforcement against small hosts as well as big operators.

If a Reddit or Facebook post talks only about "Airbnb rules" and never mentions GLC (General Powers) Act 1973 s25 or the Deregulation Act 2015, treat it as incomplete at best.

12. What to do next

If you only plan occasional lets under 90 nights

Set up a simple calendar-year log of each booking with check-in, check-out and total nights, and stop accepting bookings well before you hit 90 nights. Leave yourself a buffer.

If you want to run a full-time London short-let

Budget for planning and do it with your eyes open:

• A pre-application planning advice meeting in many London boroughs costs roughly GBP 200-600 per case (2025-26 fees).
• A full change-of-use application with drawings and a planning consultant typically runs GBP 2,000-5,000+ in professional and council fees per flat (2025-26 ranges).
• Decision timelines are usually 8-13 weeks from validation, longer if there are objections or committee.

If you are already over 90 nights without permission

Stop taking further short-term bookings, take screenshots and booking records to get an accurate nights count, and speak to a planning solicitor or consultant before the council comes to you.

Do not build a business model on "maybe the council will not notice" when the fines are up to GBP 20,000 per offence and platforms and neighbours are both feeding them data.

13. Who to contact

Free or low-cost help:

• Your London borough's planning department: check their website for any short-term letting guidance pages, Article 4 directions, and local practice on enforcing the 90-night rule.
• Planning Aid / Citizens Advice: basic help understanding planning enforcement notices and your rights to appeal or negotiate.

Paid, specialist help:

• A planning consultant experienced in London short-term lets and C3 to short-stay change-of-use applications, especially if you are central or have multiple units.
• A property solicitor or barrister if you have already been served with a planning enforcement notice or summons under GLC Act 1973 s25.

14. Sources

Core law and government statements:

• Greater London Council (General Powers) Act 1973 s25 & s25A: temporary sleeping accommodation as material change of use, and the 90-night exception.
• Deregulation Act 2015 s44-45: relaxation of short-term letting restrictions in London.
• Government speech "Short-term use of residential property in London" (2015): confirms maximum 90 days per calendar year and fines up to GBP 20,000 for failing to secure planning permission.
• GLA "Guidance on short term and holiday lets in London" (2025): sets out the 90 nights per calendar year rule and council tax liability condition, confirmed as current in 2025-26.

Planning and legal commentary:

• Anthony Gold Solicitors: "Short Term Letting in London: An Update" (2025): explains s25A, the aggregate 90-night limit and how councils apply it.
• Various planning and law firm briefings on London short-lets and enforcement practice in 2023-26.

Platform and industry guides:

• Kingsley Napley, Pass The Keys, Houst, Hostaway and others on Airbnb's January 2017 London cap and 90-night counter behaviour.
• City of London and London agents' guides on short-term letting enforcement, including reference to fines and borough enforcement styles.

Related PropertyKiln guides you should read next:

• 4-01: Airbnb tax guide UK 2026-27 (post-FHL abolition).
• 3-12: Selective licensing and how it interacts with planning enforcement.
• 3-22: Property licensing penalties and how councils use them alongside planning powers.
• 1-10: Self-managing a rental property: when to bring in professional help.

Legislation tracker, budget coverage, new tools. Free, no spam.

Didn't find what you were looking for?