In this guide
- Anyone taking bookings of 31 nights or fewer for a home in Wales must register with the Welsh Revenue Authority by 31 March 2027. Registration is free.
- To pay business rates, a holiday let must be available for 252 days a year and actually let for 182. If it fails, it pays council tax, and most councils add a second homes premium of up to 300%.
- Councils can now add a visitor levy of £1.30 per person per night, with Cardiff first from 1 April 2027, and a licensing scheme for self-catering homes is on the way.
Registering with the Welsh Revenue Authority
If you take any bookings of 31 nights or fewer for a home in Wales, you must register with the Welsh Revenue Authority (WRA), the body that collects Welsh taxes. It covers almost every kind of holiday let: houses, flats, cottages and lodges, and even your own home or a spare room. The register opened on 1 October 2026.
The person who registers is the provider: whoever is responsible for the accommodation, usually the owner. A manager can register on your behalf, but the duty stays with you. If you run several homes yourself, they all go in one registration under one registration number. Some of the details appear on a public register.
A home that starts letting after 31 March 2027 must be registered when it starts taking bookings, and you can register up to 30 days before. After that, you tell the WRA about any change within 30 days, for example if you sell the home, stop letting it or change your contact details. If only friends or family ever stay, and never under a booking, check the WRA guidance on whether you need to register.
Penalties start on 1 April 2027. Missing the deadline costs £100 for each home that should be registered and is not, then £10 a day for up to 30 days if the home is still not registered, and £1,000 after that, so up to £1,300 more per home. The deadline applies whether or not your council ever adopts the visitor levy.
For the homes we run in Wales, we handle the WRA registration as part of setting the home up. Tell us if anything changes, such as a sale, so the details can be updated within the 30 days.
Business rates or council tax: the 182-night test
A holiday let in Wales pays business rates (called non-domestic rates in Wales) only if it passes a letting test. If it fails, it is treated as a home and pays council tax instead, often with a premium on top. The Welsh test is much tougher than England’s, so check your figures every year.
Two details catch owners out. First, the Valuation Office (part of HMRC) treats only lets of 28 days or fewer as short periods, and only the courts could decide otherwise, so a two-month contractor booking fills your calendar but adds nothing to your 182. Second, it is up to you to prove the figures, so keep your booking records for every year.
More room for a bad year
Since 1 April 2026, a home that misses 182 days in the latest year can still pass if it averages 182 days over the last two or three years. Up to 14 days a year given free to a registered charity, as short breaks for the people it helps, can also count towards the total. Both changes come from a Welsh Order (SI 2026 No. 7).
The threshold itself is under review. The Welsh Government consulted from 31 July to 23 October 2026 on whether 182 days is the right level, and on new exemptions for lets that could not reasonably be anyone’s permanent home, such as units on the owner’s farm or in the grounds of their home. Nothing has changed yet, so plan on 182 until new rules are actually made.
If your home is on business rates, you may qualify for Small Business Rates Relief, but in Wales it is limited to two properties per business in each council area. If the home stops meeting the test, tell the Valuation Office promptly, because it can backdate the move to council tax. Our guide to council tax or business rates compares the two in more detail.
Council tax premiums on second homes
A holiday let that pays council tax is usually charged as a second home, and Welsh councils can add a premium of up to 300% on top of the standard bill. At the maximum, that is four times the normal amount. In 2026 to 2027, 20 of Wales’s 22 councils charge a second homes premium, each at a rate it sets itself.
Some homes are excepted from the premium, though they still pay council tax. These include homes with a planning condition that limits them to holiday use, stops anyone living there as a main home, or keeps them empty for at least 28 days in a row each year. A council can also reduce a bill at its own discretion.
This is why the 182-night test matters so much in Wales. A home that drops off business rates can go from a modest bill, or none at all with relief, to council tax at up to four times the usual rate.
The visitor levy
Welsh councils can now charge a visitor levy, a small charge per person per night on overnight stays. It comes from the Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Act 2025, the same law that created the register. Each council decides whether to adopt it, and only after consulting residents and local businesses.
| Type of stay | Rate per person, per night |
|---|---|
| Houses, flats, cottages, hotels, B&Bs and most other accommodation | £1.30 |
| Shared rooms in hostels and bunkhouses, and tent pitches | 75p (under-18s exempt) |
Rates set by the Welsh Government.
For a holiday home the rate is £1.30, and it applies to every guest. A family of four staying three nights would owe £15.60. You, as the provider, are liable for it and pay it to the WRA. You can pass it on to guests or absorb it, and if you are VAT registered, VAT applies to the total including the levy.
Cardiff is the first council to adopt it, for stays from 1 April 2027. Gwynedd and some other councils have consulted on it. A council must give at least 12 months’ notice before a levy starts, and it can only start on 1 April or 1 October, so you will have time to adjust your prices. The Welsh Government’s website has a checker showing which councils are charging or consulting.
Long stays fall outside the levy. A stay does not count where every guest is booked for more than 31 nights. Placements such as emergency housing are also outside it, and guests who were carers, temporarily homeless or fleeing harm can claim a refund afterwards.
Licensing: what is coming
Wales will also license holiday lets. The Development of Tourism and Regulation of Visitor Accommodation (Wales) Act 2026 received Royal Assent on 27 April 2026. It creates the legal framework for a licensing scheme, starting with self-catering accommodation, so that guests can trust a place meets the standards they expect.
The detail has not been written yet. The Welsh Government will consult on the regulations and publish guidance first. The Act sets a default start of March 2030, unless the Welsh Government sets an earlier date.
There is nothing to apply for today. The useful step now is to make sure the safety basics already required of any home taking paying guests are in place: a written fire risk assessment, suitable smoke alarms, and an annual gas safety check if the home has gas appliances. A carbon monoxide alarm near any fuel-burning appliance is sensible too. Getting these right now means fewer surprises when licensing arrives. Our guides to fire safety and gas and electrical checks set out what is required.
Planning: second homes and short lets
Since 20 October 2022, Welsh planning law has had separate categories, called use classes, for main homes, second homes and short lets.
| Use class | What it covers |
|---|---|
| C3 | A main home: someone’s sole or main residence |
| C5 | A second home: a home that is not anyone’s main residence |
| C6 | A short-term let |
Use classes for homes in Wales, set by the Welsh Government.
Normally you can move a home between these classes without planning permission. A council or national park can remove that freedom in its area with an Article 4 direction. Eryri National Park has had one in force since 1 June 2025, so inside the park turning a main home into a second home or a short let now needs planning permission. Gwynedd Council made one for the rest of the county, but the court quashed it in November 2025 and the council’s appeal was refused in February 2026, so it no longer applies.
A direction does not affect homes already in that use before it started. If you let in an area with one, keep evidence of how the home was used on the start date, such as booking records and tax returns. Before buying a home to let anywhere in Wales, check the council’s planning pages for any direction in force or proposed. Our guide to planning permission and short lets covers the wider rules.
Key dates and what to do
Most of these rules arrive in stages. These are the dates that matter for an owner.
- 1 April 2026Averaging startsTwo- and three-year averages and charity days can count towards the 182.
- 1 October 2026Register opensRegistration with the WRA is free and online.
- After October 2026182-night reviewThe Welsh Government considers the consultation responses on the threshold.
- 31 March 2027Registration deadlineEvery existing provider must be registered. Penalties apply from 1 April 2027.
- 1 April 2027Cardiff’s levy begins£1.30 per person per night for most stays in Cardiff.
- By March 2030Licensing expectedSelf-catering first. March 2030 is the Act’s default start; it could come sooner.
For most owners, the to-do list is short.
We run homes in South Wales, including Swansea, Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare, and register each one with the WRA for its owner. Our monthly statements are itemised booking by booking, which gives you and your accountant the records the Valuation Office asks for.
Questions owners ask
Do I need to register if I only let my home now and then?
Yes, if you take any paid booking of 31 nights or fewer. The register covers your own main home and spare rooms as well as dedicated holiday lets.
How do long stays fit these rules?
Differently for each one. Stays where every guest is booked for more than 31 nights fall outside the visitor levy. For the business rates test, the Valuation Office counts only lets of 28 days or fewer towards the 182. And you still need to register if you take any bookings of 31 nights or fewer.
Can my manager register for me?
Yes. An agent or management company can register on your behalf. The duty to register stays with you as the provider, so make sure it has been done before 31 March 2027.
What if my home has just missed 182 days?
Work out the two- and three-year averages first: if either reaches 182, it still passes. If not, tell the Valuation Office, because it can backdate the change, and check what your council charges on second homes.
Does England’s short-let register apply in Wales?
No. Wales has its own register, run by the WRA. England’s planned register is a separate scheme, covered in our guide to the short-let register.
- Welsh Government: Registering visitor accommodation, overview
- Welsh Government: Registering visitor accommodation, technical guidance
- Business Wales: Non-domestic rates for self-catering properties in Wales
- legislation.gov.uk: The Non-Domestic Rating (Amendment of Definition of Domestic Property) (Wales) Order 2026
- Welsh Government: Visitor levy
- Welsh Government: Licensing visitor accommodation in Wales
- Welsh Government: Council tax dwellings, April 2026 to March 2027
- Eryri National Park: Article 4 direction
