You may be considering letting your home, or second property, via Airbnb or another short-term letting platform to produce a second income. Before you commit to using your property for short-term lettings, you should check whether you have the appropriate planning permission, otherwise you could be putting yourself at risk of enforcement action by your Local Planning Authority.
Do short-term lets need planning permission?
The answer is not straightforward as different rules apply depending on where your property is located.
For example, in Greater London, if the Local Planning Authority has not already adopted a planning policy which prevents short-term letting of residential properties, you may not need planning permission if:
- the property is used as a short-term let for a total of 90 nights or less in any one calendar year (i.e. 1 January to 31 December); and
- you pay Council Tax in respect of the residential property.
Elsewhere in England and Wales, there are no hard and fast rules. Your Local Planning Authority may have a policy which requires applications to be made for short-term letting of residential properties. Otherwise it will depend on whether the Local Planning Authority considers that short-term letting would involve a material change of use. Each case will be determined on the facts. Generally, it is assessed on the frequency and length of the short-term lets and the likely noise impact.
What to do if you need planning permission for a short-term let?
If planning permission is needed it will only be granted if the proposed use of your property for short-term lets complies with your Local Planning Authority’s planning policies. Therefore, if you are considering short-term lets for your residential property you should first check whether planning permission is needed and if so whether your proposed use would be supported by your Local Planning Authority.
Find out more
Our experienced team of planning solicitors are on hand to advise whether you require planning permission and assist you with any application that may be necessary.
