The national short-term let register for England is confirmed in law. It is not yet in force. GOV.UK’s holiday-let guidance, last updated on 15 May 2026, still says the scheme is “not yet in force” and “expected to begin in 2026”. That page is due another review on 24 September 2026. Industry briefings talk about a test phase running into 2027. Treat any date you see in a host Facebook group as a rumour until the portal is live.
That delay is useful. Registration is expected to be a compliance check plus a number, not a Scottish-style licence. Platforms will be told to show that number and drop listings that do not have one. Civil penalties of around £5,000 have been the figure used in policy papers. The documents the portal is likely to ask for are the same documents fire officers, insurers and borough planners already expect. Assemble them now, while engineers still have diary space.
Do not mix this up with the Renters’ Rights Act private-rented-sector landlord database. That is a separate long-let system. Holiday lets sit on the short-term register.
We covered the three-nation picture, including Wales and Scotland, in the 2026 rules roundup. This piece is the England drawer.
What the register is likely to want
Policy papers and the official holiday-let guidance point to the same pack:
- Property address and host contact details
- Confirmation it is a short-term or self-catering let
- A written fire risk assessment
- A gas safety certificate (CP12) if there is gas
- Evidence the electrics are safe (an EICR is what everyone will upload)
- Insurance that actually covers short-term letting
- Planning and night-limit position, especially in London
- An EPC where the four-month rule bites
GOV.UK already tells owners to contact the council about planning, how registration will work locally, and what documents to provide. When the portal opens, you want PDFs dated and named, not a scramble for last year’s Gas Safe invoice.
1. Fire risk assessment: do this first
This is the document most hosts still do not have on paper.
If you take paying guests, you are the responsible person under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. A mental walk-round does not count. Home Office guidance Making your small paying guest accommodation safe from fire (updated January 2025) applies to simple premises: typically ground floor only, or ground plus first floor, up to 10 people, limited fire risk. Cottages, small houses, ordinary flats, pods and shepherds’ huts sit here. Bigger, taller or more complex buildings use the Sleeping accommodation guide instead.
VisitEngland’s reading of the guidance is blunt: you must record the assessment. Put a copy in the property folder and keep the master in the drawer or cloud. Review it when you change layout, heating or occupancy, and after any incident. Annually is sensible even if nothing changed.
A usable FRA names who is at risk, including children and guests who do not know the house. It covers ignition sources, escape routes, interlinked smoke and heat alarms, carbon monoxide alarms where there is a fixed combustion appliance, fire-resistant furniture labels, a guest fire-action notice, and a test log.
A competent assessor is worth it on anything that is not a simple two-storey cottage. Fire and rescue can inspect without the register existing.
In the drawer: a dated, signed fire risk assessment; a photo sheet of alarms, extinguisher or blanket, and the escape route; a one-page guest fire notice.
2. Gas (CP12) and carbon monoxide
If there is a boiler, gas hob, gas fire or other gas appliance, an annual Gas Safety Certificate (CP12) from a Gas Safe engineer is a legal requirement. There is no grace period. No gas on site? Keep a one-line note that the property is all-electric so you are not hunting a certificate that does not exist.
Carbon monoxide alarms sit in an awkward gap. The 2015 and 2022 smoke-and-CO regulations are written for specified tenancies. Many holiday stays are licences, not tenancies. Do not use that as an excuse. Fire-safety guidance, gas duties and insurer proposal forms all expect a CO alarm in any room with a fixed combustion appliance other than a gas cooker. Test between lets. Log it.
In the drawer: the current CP12 and last year’s certificate; the engineer’s Gas Safe registration number; CO alarm locations and a test log.
3. Electrics (EICR): law versus what you will be asked for
Precision matters here.
The Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 do not automatically apply to a pure holiday let. Scotland already requires an EICR for a short-term let licence. England holiday-let law is a general duty to keep the installation safe, plus occupiers’ liability.
In practice you still want an EICR no older than five years, or sooner if the report says so. Insurers often make it a condition of holiday-let cover. Fire officers look for it. The register is widely expected to ask for it. An “unsatisfactory” report means you remediate, then file the new satisfactory certificate.
PAT-test guest-facing appliances (kettles, lamps, hairdryers you supply) and keep the sheet with the EICR.
In the drawer: the latest EICR; remedial invoices if the first report was unsatisfactory; a PAT list with dates.
4. Insurance schedule: a home policy will not do
GOV.UK now says a short-term let should have dedicated holiday-let insurance, public liability, and buildings and contents cover suitable for paying guests. A standard home policy usually excludes commercial short-term use. After a party, a fire or a five-figure damage claim, “we thought the home policy covered Airbnb” is how claims get declined.
Check the schedule, not the brochure. Short-term letting and paying guests should be named. Public liability is often targeted at £2 million to £5 million. Accidental and malicious damage by guests, theft by guests, key loss, hot tubs, log burners, annexes and listed status all need to be declared. Watch the “unoccupied” definition for empty weeks, and whether platform cover such as AirCover sits under the policy or leaves gaps.
In the drawer: the current schedule and wording as a PDF, not just a renewal email. Diary the renewal six weeks out so a lapsed policy does not coincide with the register going live.
5. Planning position: this is separate from registration
Registration will not forgive a planning breach.
Greater London
Whole-home short-term use as “temporary sleeping accommodation” is capped at 90 nights in a calendar year unless you have planning permission. The cap comes from the Greater London Council (General Powers) Act 1973, relaxed by the Deregulation Act 2015. It covers the 32 boroughs and the City of London. It resets on 1 January.
Nights add up across Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo and direct bookings. A stay of 90 or more consecutive nights to the same guest is a mid-term let and is treated differently. Letting a spare room while you are in occupation is not the same as an empty entire home.
Airbnb auto-blocks many entire-home London listings at 90 nights. Booking.com and direct bookings often do not. If you multi-list, you count. Exceeding 90 nights without permission is a material change of use. Enforcement can mean a notice and, if ignored, a serious fine.
Rest of England
There is no statutory 90-night cap. Intensive commercial short-letting of a dwelling that is not your main home can still be a material change of use. Some councils use Article 4 directions. A new C5 short-term-let use class has been discussed for years. Do not assume it has quietly arrived. Ask planning in writing: “Is short-term letting of [address] accepted as existing use, or does it need permission?” Keep the reply.
Also in the same folder: the lease or freehold (many leases ban short lets), the mortgage offer (many residential and buy-to-let mortgages ban or restrict Airbnb), and building or estate rules if you are in a block.
In the drawer: a council email or decision notice; the lease clause and lender consent letter; if you are in London, a night spreadsheet.
6. London night count: how to run the spreadsheet
One tab, calendar year, every channel.
| Date in | Date out | Nights | Channel | Guest ref | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 Mar | 7 Mar | 4 | Airbnb | HMX… | Entire home |
| 12 Mar | 15 Mar | 3 | Direct | Invoice 104 |
Rules of thumb:
- Count nights occupied, not enquiries.
- Entire-home nights from every platform share one 90-night pot.
- Do not rely on Airbnb’s counter if you also take Booking.com.
- Block the calendar at 85 nights if you want a buffer for a one-night overrun or a dispute.
- Save year-end PDFs of each platform’s reservation report.
Registration will make this easier for councils to audit. Assume they will eventually see nights as well as the registration number.
Also put these behind the same clip
They are not always on the “register day one” list, but they sit next to the same duties.
EPC. In England and Wales, if the property is let or available for four months or more in 12, you generally need a valid Energy Performance Certificate. Band F or G is not lettable. Band E is the current floor. The proposed 2030 Band C push has been described as not applying to short-term lets. Do not wait for that debate. If you are under four months, keep a note of why you believe no EPC is required.
Business rates versus council tax. In England a self-catering unit moves toward business rates if, in 12 months, it was available 140 nights and actually let 70 nights, and you intend another 140 available nights. Stays over 28 nights do not count as short-term lets for the “actually let” test. Wrong classification is a rates and premium problem, not a platform problem.
Legionella, furniture, TV and music. Keep a short written legionella note for the water system. Little-used spare bathrooms and hot tubs are the usual weak point. Photograph the fire-resistance labels on sofas and mattresses once. A TV Licence if you provide a set. PPL/PRS if you play recorded music beyond a domestic exemption.
A one-afternoon filing system
Use a physical wallet and a cloud folder named STL-pack-[address]:
- FRA, guest fire sheet and alarm test log
- CP12, or a “no gas” note
- EICR and PAT
- Insurance schedule
- Planning, lease and lender
- London night workbook and year-end platform reports
- EPC, rates letter and legionella note
File names with dates: 2026-04-EICR-12HighSt.pdf. When the portal asks you to upload, you are copying files, not commissioning engineers in a six-week queue.
Elsewhere in the UK
Wales is on a different clock. From October 2026 anyone who takes bookings for overnight stays must register with the Welsh Revenue Authority. Official guidance says you must be on the register by 31 March 2027. Scotland has licensed short-term lets since 2022. Those schemes are not this register. If you let outside England, start with the 2026 rules piece rather than this drawer.
What you can do this week
- Open GOV.UK Letting out a self-catering holiday home in England and subscribe to page updates.
- If the fire risk assessment is only in your head, book an assessor or complete the small-premises checklist and sign it.
- Check CP12 and EICR expiry. Book anything inside 90 days.
- Email the insurer: “Confirm this schedule covers short-term paying guests at [address].” Save the reply.
- Email planning, and the managing agent if you are leasehold, for a written position.
- If you are in Greater London, start the 2026 night sheet today. Do not reconstruct December from memory.
The register will not invent new safety law. It will make the existing pile visible to platforms and councils. The owners who treat that as a filing job now will list through the switchover. The ones who wait for a “go live” email will be the listings that disappear.
A registration number also does not replace a site you own. Platforms remain useful shop windows. Direct bookings still keep the margin here, and they still need the same certificates in the same folder.
This is general information for holiday-home owners in England, compiled in September 2026. It is not legal, tax, planning or insurance advice. Confirm the current position on GOV.UK, with your council, your insurer and a qualified adviser before you rely on it. The England short-term let registration scheme is not yet in force.
Key sources
- GOV.UK, Letting out a self-catering holiday home in England, updated 15 May 2026, next review 24 September 2026: scheme “not yet in force”, expected to begin in 2026; planning, fire, gas, electrics, insurance, EPC.
- GOV.UK, Delivering a registration scheme for short-term lets, last updated 19 February 2024: Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 power, light-touch online scheme still in development.
- Home Office, Making your small paying guest accommodation safe from fire, updated 20 January 2025: written FRA for small paying-guest premises, typically up to two floors and 10 people.
- HSE / Gas Safe Register and the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998: annual CP12 where there is gas.
- Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020: contrast with a pure holiday let; insurers and the expected register still want an EICR.
- Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm Regulations 2015 as amended 2022: written for specified tenancies; holiday stays are often licences.
- Greater London Council (General Powers) Act 1973 s.25 and Deregulation Act 2015 s.44: London 90-night cap on entire-home temporary sleeping accommodation.
- GOV.UK, Apply for business rates for a self-catering property in England: 140 nights available / 70 nights actually let; stays over 28 nights do not count as short-term for the “actually let” test.
- GOV.UK holiday-let guidance insurance section, updated 2026: dedicated holiday-let cover, public liability, buildings and contents suitable for paying guests.