How many nights can I let my London flat on Airbnb?

Ninety nights in a calendar year, for the whole flat, without planning permission. The count resets on 1 January. Going beyond 90 nights means applying for a change of use, which many London boroughs are likely to refuse.

What does not count towards the 90 nights?

Two things. A let of more than 90 consecutive days is not a short let at all, so it falls outside the cap. And letting a room while you continue to live in the property permanently is not covered by the rule either.

What happens if I go over 90 nights?

It is treated as an unauthorised change of use. The council can serve an enforcement notice requiring the use to stop, and neighbours can report the property directly.

Do I have to register a short let in England?

Not yet. A mandatory national register was legislated for in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 and is expected to begin, but GOV.UK guidance reviewed in March 2026 still records it as not in force.

Does the 90-night cap apply to every London flat?

No. The cap applies to residential premises without planning consent for short-term use. Some London buildings carry consent that changes the position, so the answer depends on the specific block, its planning history and your lease.

Checked against council and GOV.UK guidance, 19 August 2026

The 90-night rule in London, explained

Every London owner who looks at short letting meets this rule within about ten minutes, usually in a version that is half right. Here is what it actually says, what it does not cover, and what a flat can do for the other nine months of the year.

What the rule says

In Greater London you may let an entire flat or house as a short let for a maximum of 90 nights in a calendar year without applying for planning permission. The allowance was created by the Deregulation Act 2015, which relaxed a much older London-only ban, and the count resets every 1 January.

Councils set out three conditions that all have to hold for the exemption to apply:

you pay Council Tax on the property
no single short let runs longer than 90 days
the total across the calendar year is no more than 90 days

Miss any one of them and the exemption falls away — it is not a sliding scale.

What does not count towards the 90

This is the part most owners get wrong, and it is the part that decides whether a flat is worth doing at all.

Arrangement	Counts towards the cap?
Whole flat, let by the night to guests	Yes — every night counts
Whole flat, let on an agreement longer than 90 days	No — it is not a short let
A room, let while you still live there permanently	No — the rule does not cover it
Nights the flat sits empty between bookings	No — only let nights count

The second line is the useful one. A longer agreement is a different thing in the eyes of the planning system, so the year splits cleanly into a short-let season and a longer let — and the cap only ever applies to the first part.

What happens if you go over

Beyond 90 nights the property needs full planning permission for a change of use. It is worth being blunt about the odds: several London boroughs have policies that resist turning permanent homes into short-stay accommodation, and Camden, for one, states plainly that such applications are likely to be refused.

Letting beyond the cap without permission is an unauthorised change of use. The council can serve an enforcement notice requiring it to stop, and any neighbour can report the property through the council's website. Platforms also cap listings automatically in London — but only on their own platform, so spreading bookings across two sites does not raise your allowance.

Five things to check before you list anything

Your lease. Most London leasehold flats restrict subletting or short letting outright
Your mortgage. A residential mortgage usually forbids it without written consent
Your insurance. Standard home cover generally excludes paying guests
Your landlord, if you rent. Nothing about this rule overrides your own tenancy
Council tenants and leaseholders are not permitted to short-let at all

Tax: what changed in 2025

The Furnished Holiday Let regime was abolished on 6 April 2025. From the 2025–26 tax year, income from short-term holiday accommodation is taxed under the ordinary rules for residential landlords, and the old FHL reliefs no longer apply. If your plan was built on the previous treatment, it needs revisiting with an accountant.

Separately, a property rated as a self-catering business may fall under business rates rather than Council Tax — which interacts with the first of the three conditions above. Worth checking before, not after.

Registration: coming, not here

A mandatory national register for short lets in England was legislated for in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 and has been announced repeatedly since. Plenty of articles now state it as already compulsory. It is not: GOV.UK guidance, reviewed on 24 March 2026, still lists registration as not yet in force. A dedicated planning use class for short lets has been trailed alongside it and has not landed either.

Both will arrive. Neither changes what you can do this year.

Where your building stands

None of the above is one-size-fits-all, and the honest answer for any particular flat depends on the building it sits in. Some London blocks — particularly newer developments in the east and along the river — carry planning consent that changes the position entirely. Others do not, and then the year has to be structured around the cap.

It is the first thing we look at. Before anything is listed or photographed, we read your lease, your building's planning position and your mortgage terms, and tell you plainly what is possible for your flat. If the answer is that short letting will not work here, you hear that at the start rather than after you have spent money on it.

See what your flat would earn

Where this comes from

Written from primary sources rather than summaries: council planning guidance on short-term lettings in London, and GOV.UK guidance on letting out a self-catering property in England (page reviewed 24 March 2026), plus the government statement on delivering a registration scheme for short-term lets.

This is a plain-English guide, not legal or tax advice. Rules differ between boroughs and change with little warning, and your lease or mortgage may be stricter than the law. Check with your own council and your own accountant before you list. If you would like us to look at your specific building, email owners@stayq.co.uk — we will tell you honestly if the answer is no.