Short-term letting and the use class question

Letting a whole dwelling on short stays does not automatically need planning permission, and it does not automatically escape it either. The test in section 55 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 is whether the activity amounts to a material change of use, which is a question of fact and degree decided case by case. In Greater London there is a statutory shortcut: use as temporary sleeping accommodation is treated as a material change of use, with a deemed exception for up to 90 nights a calendar year.

Outside London no such number exists, whatever the letting platforms imply. A council assessing a complaint looks at how the property is actually being used.

When letting becomes a material change of use

A dwelling that is someone's home and is let out occasionally, while the owner is away, is still being used as a dwelling. The planning unit has not changed its character. A dwelling let continuously to a succession of unconnected short-stay visitors, managed remotely, marketed commercially and never occupied by a household, has moved a long way from that.

Between those two poles sits everything that gets argued about. The Court of Appeal considered holiday letting of a large house in Moore v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government in 2012 and accepted that commercial holiday letting was capable of amounting to a material change of use, on the facts of that case. What the courts have consistently declined to do is set a threshold in nights or bookings.

Because the question is about the character of the use rather than the activity itself, it helps to be clear about what is being assessed in the first place. The note on the planning unit explains how councils decide the boundaries of what they are looking at, which matters where an annexe or a single flat in a block is let while the rest stays residential.

The London 90 night rule

Section 25 of the Greater London Council (General Powers) Act 1973 makes the use of residential premises in Greater London as temporary sleeping accommodation a material change of use requiring planning permission. Section 44 of the Deregulation Act 2015 then relaxed it.

The relaxation applies where two conditions are met together. The cumulative number of nights of such use in the calendar year does not exceed 90, and the person providing the accommodation is liable to pay council tax on the premises. Both limbs matter. A property let for 60 nights by someone who is not the council tax payer does not get the benefit, and nor does one let for 95 nights by someone who is.

Beyond 90 nights, planning permission is needed for the change of use, and London boroughs do enforce it. Some have also made it a condition of planning permissions on new flats that the units remain in C3 use and are not used as temporary sleeping accommodation, which removes the 90 night flexibility entirely for those properties. Read the decision notice on the block before assuming the statutory position applies.

What tips the balance outside London

Councils outside London look at a cluster of factors, none of which is decisive alone:

• the frequency and duration of lettings, and whether the property is ever occupied as a home
• the turnover of occupiers and the pattern of arrivals and departures, including late-night check-ins
• whether the operation is managed commercially, with cleaning contractors, key safes and a professional listing
• noise, waste, parking demand and the effect on a shared entrance in a flatted block
• whether business rates or council tax apply, and how the property is described to other regulators
• the physical alterations made, such as extra bedrooms, additional bathrooms or external signage

The direction of travel in decision making is that intensity rather than activity is what makes a use material, and the article on intensification sets out how that reasoning works in other contexts. A cottage let for 20 weeks a year and occupied by the owner for the rest is a very different proposition from a two-bedroom flat with 200 reviews and a lockbox on the railings.

How councils gather evidence

Enforcement officers rarely need to knock on the door. Listings are public, dated and reviewed, and a review count with visible dates gives a usable picture of occupancy over time. Add to that neighbour diaries recording arrivals, photographs of lockboxes and luggage, waste presentation on non-collection days, and the council's own records of complaints about noise.

Council tax and rating records are the other source. Where a property is operating commercially it will often have moved off the council tax list, and that transition is a documented event the council already holds.

An unauthorised material change of use becomes immune from enforcement after ten years of continuous use, which is a long time to run a business on. A certificate of lawfulness under section 191 is the way to put the matter beyond argument once that period has been completed, and the evidence has to be continuous rather than merely voluminous.

The proposed use class and the registration scheme

The government announced in February 2024 that it intended to create a new use class for short-term lets, with a permitted development right allowing a dwelling to move into that class and a mechanism for councils to withdraw the right locally through an article 4 direction. Alongside it, sections of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 provide powers for a registration scheme for short-term rental properties in England.

Neither package should be treated as settled. The dates on which this material comes into force have moved more than once, so check the current Use Classes Order and the current registration requirements before advising anyone on the basis of the announcement. If the class is in force when you read this, the practical consequence is that the planning question becomes cleaner and the article 4 question becomes the live one, exactly as it did for small HMOs.

Scotland and Wales run separate regimes. Scotland operates a short-term let licensing scheme with its own planning control area provisions, and Wales has its own registration and licensing legislation. Neither is a variation on the English position, so do not read across.

Council tax, business rates and the 140 day test

Rating is a separate regime, and getting it right does not fix the planning position. In England a self-catering property is assessed for business rates rather than council tax only where it meets the availability and letting thresholds that applied from 1 April 2023: available to let commercially for at least 140 days in the previous and current year, and actually let for at least 70 days in the previous year.

Owners sometimes assume that being rated as a business proves the use is lawful. It proves the opposite of what they hope. A rating record showing 70 nights of commercial letting is precisely the evidence an enforcement officer needs to show the property is not being used as a dwelling.

Confirming the position before you let

1. Check whether the property is in Greater London, and if so whether any planning condition on the permission restricts use as temporary sleeping accommodation.
2. Read the lease if the property is a flat, because covenants against business use and against letting for less than a stated period bind you regardless of planning.
3. Look for an article 4 direction or a local plan policy dealing with short-term lets, which a growing number of authorities in tourist areas now have.
4. Where the intended use is commercial and continuous, apply for permission or for a certificate of lawfulness of proposed use under section 192 before letting starts.
5. Where the position is borderline, write to the council setting out the intended pattern of use and ask for a view in writing.

An application for change of use stands or falls on the narrative: the pattern of occupation, the management arrangements, the waste and parking provision, and the policy assessment. That is what a Planning Statement is for, and on this topic a well-evidenced one is worth more than another drawing.

Enter your postcode on PlanScope to see which documents a change of use application on your property is likely to need.

This is general guidance, not legal advice. A Lawful Development Certificate is the only formal way to confirm that a use is lawful, so check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.