London Short-Term Let Rules: The 90-Night Rule Explained (2026 Guide)

If you host on Airbnb, Vrbo or Booking.com in London, you operate under a completely different regulatory model from Edinburgh. There is no licence to apply for and no licensing officer to satisfy. Instead, London controls how much you can let: the famous 90-night rule. This guide explains how the rule works, how it is enforced, what happens if you exceed it, and how London's model compares with the STL licensing scheme our Edinburgh hosts navigate.

The headline: no licence, but a hard 90-night cap

England has no equivalent of Scotland's short-term let licensing scheme. In London, the key control is in the Greater London Council (General Powers) Act 1973, as amended: you may use your entire home for short-term (temporary) sleeping accommodation for up to 90 nights in a calendar year without planning permission. Let beyond 90 nights and the use is treated as a change of use requiring planning permission from your borough.

Three points hosts often miss:

• The 90-night limit applies to letting your entire home. Letting a room while you live there — home sharing — is not subject to the same statutory cap.
• Nights are counted per calendar year (1 January to 31 December), not on a rolling 12-month basis.
• The cap applies regardless of how many bookings make up those nights — 30 three-night stays and nine ten-night stays both count as 90 nights.

How the 90 nights are counted and enforced

In practice, the major platforms do the counting for you. Airbnb applies an automatic 90-night cap to entire-home listings in London: once your listing reaches 90 booked nights in a calendar year, the platform blocks further short-stay bookings unless you enter a valid planning permission reference. Other platforms may not enforce the cap automatically — the legal responsibility sits with you as the host, so keep your own booking records and diarise your running total, especially if you list on multiple platforms.

Boroughs do occasionally investigate short-term letting activity — often following neighbour complaints about noise, rubbish or a steady stream of arrivals. An unplanned enforcement investigation mid-season is a far bigger problem than a carefully planned calendar.

What happens if you want (or need) to go beyond 90 nights?

If your strategy genuinely requires more than 90 short-let nights a year, you need planning permission from your borough for a change of use. Two things to know before you apply:

• Boroughs differ sharply. Some central boroughs tolerate short-term letting within limits; others have adopted Article 4 directions that remove permitted development rights and make short-term use harder to formalise. Check your borough's local plan before investing in a short-let strategy.
• Timescales are real. Applications take weeks to months and may attach conditions. Hosts who need certainty usually model their calendars on staying under 90 nights and use longer-let bookings to fill the remainder of the year.

A common compliant strategy: run short lets through peak season, then switch to medium-let corporate bookings (three to six months) once the cap approaches. The nights counter resets on 1 January.

London vs Edinburgh: the two models side by side

• Edinburgh / Scotland: a statutory STL licence is mandatory for every short-term let (since 1 January 2025), with safety conditions attached. On top of that, the whole city is a Short-Term Let Control Area, so secondary letting of a whole property you don't live in generally requires planning permission from day one. The upshot: Edinburgh regulates entry to the market.
• London / England: no licence and no registration scheme (yet). Instead, entire-home short lets are capped at 90 nights per calendar year without planning permission. The upshot: London regulates volume, not entry.

Practical consequence for two-city hosts: an Edinburgh let needs its licence number displayed and its certificates current; a London let needs a watched night counter and a plan for the closed season. We explain the Edinburgh side in detail in our STL compliance guide.

What London hosts must still do (even without a licence)

• An annual Gas Safety Certificate (CP12) from a Gas Safe registered engineer.
• An Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) — typically renewed every five years — plus working smoke alarms on every storey and (where there is a solid fuel appliance) a CO alarm.
• A valid EPC (Energy Performance Certificate), renewed every ten years.
• Adequate public liability insurance — standard home insurance usually excludes short-term letting, so confirm dedicated cover.
• Permission from your leaseholder/freeholder terms and mortgage lender if applicable — many standard leases and mortgage conditions restrict short-term letting.
• Respect any borough-specific rules, including Article 4 directions and waste/noise requirements.

For context on where regulation in England is heading: the government has consulted on introducing a registration scheme for short-term accommodation in England. Nothing mandatory applied to London at the time of writing — but check gov.uk before the new season.

Where cleaning fits in

Whatever the regulatory model, the review-side economics are identical in both cities: cleanliness is a core review category on Airbnb, it feeds your overall rating, and your overall rating drives search ranking. A hygiene complaint is also the fastest way to attract the neighbour or platform attention no host wants. A reliable changeover service keeps the property guest-ready, documents each turn with photos, and flags maintenance issues before guests ever notice them. See our article on how cleanliness affects your Airbnb ranking and Superhost status.

A practical compliance checklist for London hosts

Where to verify

• gov.uk — Planning permission in England and Wales
• gov.uk — Short-term accommodation registration consultation (England)
• London Assembly / Greater London Authority
• Your borough's own planning pages — search "short term let" plus your borough name