Short let or long let: which suits your home?

The two side by side

A long let means a tenant moves in and makes the home theirs, usually for a year or more. A short let means guests stay for a few nights or weeks at a time, booked through sites such as Airbnb and Booking.com. Neither is better in general. The right choice depends on the home, where it is, and what you want from it.

Income: steady rent or a seasonal curve

A long let pays the same rent every month, and in England it can now rise only once a year. That predictability is its biggest strength. Its weaknesses are the gaps between tenants and the risk of a tenant who stops paying, which can take months to resolve through the courts.

Short-let income moves with demand. Summer and school holidays are usually strongest in tourist areas, while homes near hospitals, building sites or business parks can stay busy all year. Prices change night by night, so a good month and a quiet month can look very different.

To compare the two fairly, compare the whole year after costs, not one good month against a monthly rent. A short let has to cover bills, supplies and a higher management cost before it beats a long let. In the right location it can. In the wrong one it may not. We fill quieter gaps with longer work stays and insurance stays, where families are placed while their own home is repaired, which smooths the curve but does not flatten it.

Costs on each side

The biggest difference in costs is who pays the bills. With a long let, the tenant usually pays energy, water, broadband and council tax, because the home is their main residence. With a short let, you pay all of them, every month, booked or not.

Typical arrangements. Your agreement with an agent, tenant or manager sets the detail.

Since 2019, letting agents in England cannot charge tenants most fees, so agent costs on a long let sit with the landlord. Ask any agent for the total including VAT and any tenant-find, renewal or inventory charges. On a short let, council tax depends on use. A home available for at least 140 nights a year and actually let for at least 70 usually pays business rates instead, and many councils now charge a premium of up to 100% on furnished homes that nobody lives in. Our guide to council tax or business rates sets out the tests, and running costs, line by line covers the rest.

How long lets in England have changed

The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 is the biggest change to private renting in England for decades, and its main tenancy rules took effect on 1 May 2026. If you last let a home on an assured shorthold tenancy, many of the rules you remember no longer apply.

• No more no-fault evictions. Section 21 notices are gone. You can only end a tenancy on a legal ground under section 8, such as selling, moving in, or serious rent arrears.
• No fixed terms. Tenancies are now periodic, rolling month to month with no end date. Tenants can leave at any time with two months’ notice.
• Rent rises once a year. You must use a section 13 notice with at least two months’ notice, and the tenant can ask a tribunal to check the new rent against the market. Rent review clauses no longer work.
• Limits on rent in advance. You can ask for no more than one month’s rent upfront, and only once the tenancy agreement has been signed.
• Pets. Tenants can ask to keep a pet, and you cannot refuse unreasonably.

Deposits work as before. A deposit is capped at five weeks’ rent (six weeks if the annual rent is £50,000 or more) and must be protected in a government-approved scheme within 30 days, with the required information given to the tenant. An unprotected deposit can block you from getting the home back. More changes are still being phased in.

1. 15 December 2026
   Landlord database opensRegistration starts in the West Midlands, then opens region by region, with an annual fee of £65 per property.
2. 14 November 2027
   Last registration deadlineBy this date landlords in every region of England must have registered each let home.
3. 2028
   Landlord ombudsmanLandlords are expected to have to join a new ombudsman that settles tenants’ complaints.
4. From 2035
   Decent Homes StandardThe government has confirmed that the reformed standard will apply to private rented homes from 2035.

A landlord who has not registered will generally not be able to get a possession order once the database applies to them. The Act covers England only. Wales has its own system of occupation contracts, and Scotland’s private tenancies have had no end date since 2017.

Getting your home back, and using it yourself

This is where the two differ most. With a long let in England, wanting the home back is no longer enough on its own. To sell, or for you or a close family member to move in, you must give four months’ notice, and you cannot use either reason in the first 12 months of the tenancy. If you use them, you cannot let the home, even to short-let guests, or market it, from the day you serve notice until 12 months after the notice ends. If the tenant does not leave, you need a court order, which takes more time again.

A short-let guest is not a tenant. Short-stay guests are usually licensees: they have permission to stay for agreed nights, and that permission ends when the stay does. The Housing Act 1988 also excludes lettings for a holiday from assured tenancies. Clear written terms matter most for longer stays, such as a contractor booked for several weeks.

Short lets also let you use the home yourself. You can block dates for a family holiday, a visit home or a spell of work nearby, and take bookings either side. You can stop short-letting and sell with an empty home, subject to bookings already taken and your notice to the manager. With a tenant in place, none of that is possible.

Tax, mortgages and insurance

Tax used to favour short lets. Under the furnished holiday lettings regime, qualifying homes could deduct mortgage interest in full and claim capital gains reliefs. That regime was abolished from 6 April 2025 (1 April 2025 for companies). Short-let and long-let income are now taxed in the same way, as property income: mortgage interest gets basic-rate relief only, and furniture is replaced under the replacement of domestic items relief rather than capital allowances.

Two more changes apply to both. Landlords with qualifying income over £50,000 have had to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax since April 2026, with lower thresholds to follow. And from April 2027, property income in England and Northern Ireland will be taxed at its own rates of 22%, 42% and 47%, two points above the rates on other income. Neither changes the comparison between the two, because both lets are treated alike. Our guide to tax on short-let income goes further.

Mortgages and insurance can decide the question for you. Many buy-to-let mortgages are written for tenancies and do not allow short lets without the lender’s written consent, and some lenders will not agree at all. A residential mortgage needs consent to let in any form. A standard landlord insurance policy usually will not cover paying guests, so a short let needs a specialist policy. If you own a leasehold flat, check the lease too. Our guides to mortgages and insurance cover each.

Which suits your home

Short lets suit some homes and owners well and others badly. A small flat in a quiet residential street with no visitors or workers nearby may earn more reliably on a long let. A home near a coast, a city centre, a hospital or a big project often does better as a short let. These five questions get most owners to an answer.

If most of your answers lean long let, that is a sound choice. If they lean short let, the next step is to see what the home could earn after every cost, month by month.

• Area with steady visitor demand
• Lender and freeholder permission
• Specialist short-let insurance
• Furnished to a guest standard
• Income that can vary
• Plans for your own use

If you have a tenant now and want to change, read from long let to short let first. Our guide to whether your home is right for short lets goes deeper on location and layout.

Questions owners ask