The 90-night rule explained — and why it matters outside London too
In Greater London a property cannot be let as a short let for more than 90 nights a year without planning permission. The detail people miss is what counts as a short let in the first place.
The rule comes from the Deregulation Act 2015, which allows residential premises in Greater London to be used as temporary sleeping accommodation for up to 90 nights in a calendar year. Go beyond that and you need planning permission for a material change of use.
The part that gets missed
The cap applies to short lets. A stay of 90 consecutive nights or more is not a short let at all — it falls outside the regime entirely. That is why an operating model built on longer placements, such as insurance rehousing or contractor accommodation, is not constrained by the 90-night cap in the way a nightly holiday listing is.
Why this matters if you are nowhere near London
The 90-night cap is London-specific, but the direction of travel is not. Scotland now operates a licensing scheme for short-term lets. Wales has a registration scheme and higher council tax multipliers for second homes. In England, a national registration scheme for short-term lets and a separate planning use class for them have both been legislated for. Any model that depends on nightly letting is exposed to whichever version of this arrives in your area.
What to check before assuming you can short-let
- Your lease, if leasehold — most prohibit short lets outright, regardless of planning.
- Your mortgage terms, which frequently require consent for anything other than an AST.
- Your insurance, which will not respond to a claim arising from an undeclared use.
- Local licensing or Article 4 directions, which vary enormously between councils.
The practical takeaway
Longer, fewer, better-referenced stays are the more durable model almost everywhere in the UK — less regulatory exposure, less turnover, less wear. That is not a compliance workaround; it is simply a different business.