Switching to Airbnb After the Renters' Rights Act? Read This First.
Thousands of London landlords are considering switching to short lets after the Renters' Rights Act. Before you do, here are the compliance rules you need to know — starting with the 90-day rule.
Since the Renters' Rights Act passed, three landlords have contacted Letaro with the same plan: ditch the long-term tenancy, list on Airbnb, sidestep the new rules.
Two of them didn't know the 90-day rule existed.
Short lets in London are not a regulatory-free zone. They have their own rules — different rules, stricter in some ways — and landlords switching from long-term lets are walking in blind.
Here's what you need to know before your first booking.
You can only let your entire home for 90 nights per year
This is the rule most new hosts miss. In London, under the Deregulation Act 2015, you cannot let your entire home as a short let for more than 90 nights per calendar year without planning permission.
Not 90 nights on Airbnb. 90 nights total. Across every platform combined.
If you take 55 bookings through Airbnb and 40 through Booking.com, you've used 95 nights. Airbnb shows you 55. You think you're fine. You're not — you're 5 nights over a legal limit, and no platform told you.
The council doesn't care which app the booking came from. They count everything.
The reset date catches landlords out every time
The 90-day limit resets on 1 January. Not from when you started hosting. Not from your first booking. The calendar year.
A landlord who switches in June and hosts through to December has roughly 7 months of bookings before the year ends. At even modest occupancy, hitting 90 nights before Christmas is straightforward. Most won't notice until they're already over.
If you're switching mid-year, your effective limit for 2026 isn't 90 nights — it's however many nights remain before 31 December.
Airbnb's 90-day cap doesn't protect you
Airbnb does enforce a 90-night cap in London. When you hit 90 nights on Airbnb, it stops accepting new bookings for your listing.
This is not the same as complying with the law.
Airbnb only tracks Airbnb nights. If you're also on Booking.com, Vrbo, or taking direct bookings, those nights count toward your legal limit — but Airbnb has no visibility of them. You could be blocked on Airbnb at 90 nights but have broken the law weeks earlier.
The cap is a platform rule. The 90-night limit is law. They are not the same thing.
What happens if you go over
Councils can issue enforcement notices and fines of up to £20,000 for breaching the 90-day rule. Westminster and Camden are the most active boroughs — both have issued fines and pursued enforcement cases.
You can apply for change-of-use planning permission to host beyond 90 nights, but approval is not guaranteed and the process is not quick.
The fine is real. The enforcement is real. It is not theoretical.
The safety certificates you need before your first guest
You'll know most of these from long-term letting. The difference with short lets is turnover — guests in and out constantly, more exposure, less margin for anything being out of date.
Before your first booking:
Gas Safety Certificate (CP12) — annually, by a Gas Safe registered engineer. Non-negotiable if the property has gas.
Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) — every five years. Covers the fixed electrical installation.
Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) — minimum E rating. Valid ten years. You likely have this already.
Fire Risk Assessment — legally required for HMOs, essential for all short lets. Working smoke alarms on every floor, carbon monoxide alarm where needed.
Public Liability Insurance — standard home insurance does not cover short-let activity. Check your policy before you list. If it doesn't cover you, you're exposed from the first guest.
One thing landlords consistently underestimate: where these documents are stored. If a council investigation opens or a guest is injured, you need to produce these immediately. An email thread from two years ago is not a compliance record.
Start tracking before your first booking
The landlords who stay compliant aren't hosting fewer nights — they're tracking properly from the start.
One place where your total night count across every platform is visible. Your safety certificates stored with expiry dates. A record you can export if anyone ever asks.
That's what Letaro does. It tracks your nights across Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo and direct bookings against the 90-night limit, stores your certificates with expiry alerts, and generates a PDF compliance snapshot.
Set it up before your first booking. Not after you've lost count.
The 90-day rule applies to entire-home short lets in Greater London. Rules differ outside London. This post is informational and does not constitute legal advice.