The 90 day rule airbnb london hosts run into limits how many nights a whole property can be let short-term within Greater London before planning permission is generally required. The rule traces back to Section 44 of the Deregulation Act 2015, which allowed London homeowners to short-let for up to 90 nights a year without going through a full change of use planning application. Airbnb introduced automatic enforcement of this limit in January 2017, but the underlying rule is a piece of planning law rather than an Airbnb-specific policy, and it applies regardless of which platform a booking comes through.
This guide covers how the 90 day rule actually works, how nights are tracked across different booking platforms, and what happens if a host in London exceeds the limit.
Key Takeaways
The 90 day rule allows entire-home listings in London to be let short-term for up to 90 nights a year without planning permission.
Airbnb has automatically blocked further bookings for entire-home London listings once 90 nights are reached since January 2017.
The 90-night limit applies in aggregate across every booking platform a property uses, not separately per platform.
Room-only listings, where the host remains present, are generally exempt from the 90-night automatic block.
Exceeding the limit without planning permission can risk council enforcement action, with fines reported as high as 20,000 pounds per offence.
What Is the Airbnb 90 Day Rule and How Does It Work in London?
The 90 day rule applies specifically to entire-home short-term lets within Greater London, letting a property be rented out for up to 90 nights within a calendar year without the host needing full planning permission for a change of use. Before this rule existed, technically any amount of short-term letting in London required planning permission, though this was rarely enforced.
The rule runs on a calendar-year basis, from 1 January to 31 December, rather than 12 months from a host’s first booking. Airbnb automatically counts nights booked on its platform for entire-home London listings and blocks further bookings once the 90-night threshold is reached within that calendar year, unless the host has provided proof of planning permission to lift the restriction.
Room-only listings, where the host is present in the property during the stay, are generally exempt from this automatic block, since they are treated differently under the underlying planning rule. The 90 day rule for London hosts generally works through the following mechanics:
Applies to entire-home short-term lets in Greater London
Limit runs on a calendar year, 1 January to 31 December
Airbnb automatically blocks entire-home listings at 90 nights
Room-only listings are generally exempt from the automatic block
Hosts can provide proof of planning permission to lift the limit
Airbnb London Rules: Tracking Nights and What Happens Beyond 90
One of the most common mistakes London hosts make is assuming the 90-night limit only applies to Airbnb specifically. In reality, the limit applies to the property in aggregate across every platform it is listed on, so nights let through Booking.com, Vrbo, or a direct booking site all count toward the same 90-night total.
Airbnb’s automatic block only tracks bookings made through Airbnb itself, and platforms like Booking.com and Vrbo generally do not enforce the limit automatically, which means the host is responsible for tracking the combined total manually. Exceeding 90 nights without planning permission risks enforcement action from the local borough council, which can include fines reportedly as high as 20,000 pounds per offence and orders to stop short-term letting.
Hosts can apply to their borough for planning permission to exceed the limit, though approval rates vary significantly, with some central London boroughs approving relatively few applications compared to outer boroughs. London hosts managing bookings across multiple platforms typically need to track the following:
Nights across all platforms count toward the same 90-night total
Airbnb's automatic block only counts Airbnb bookings specifically
Other platforms generally do not enforce the limit automatically
Council enforcement can include fines and orders to stop letting
Hosts can apply to their borough council for planning permission to exceed 90 nights
How ChargeAutomation Supports London Airbnb Hosts
Tracking and enforcing the 90 day rule itself is handled through the relevant booking platforms and the local borough council, and ChargeAutomation is not part of that planning enforcement process. No software platform, including ChargeAutomation, can grant planning permission or override a borough council’s assessment of a host’s application.
Once a London host is operating within the rule, or has obtained planning permission to exceed it, a different set of operational risks remains that the 90 day rule itself does not address, particularly around guest identity and payment fraud. ChargeAutomation’s guest verification features can confirm a guest’s identity before check-in, and its chargeback and fraud protection tools are built around a zero-chargeback guarantee for verified bookings, which applies regardless of how many nights a property is let within a given year.
Once a London host is operating within the rule, ChargeAutomation typically supports the following:
Guest identity verification before check-in
Chargeback and fraud protection for payments already being collected
Automated payment scheduling regardless of which platform a booking came from
Security deposit automation for bookings across every channel
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the 90 day rule for Airbnb in London?
The 90 day rule limits entire-home short-term lets in Greater London to 90 nights per calendar year without planning permission, based on Section 44 of the Deregulation Act 2015, with Airbnb automatically enforcing the limit on its own platform since January 2017.
How does Airbnb enforce the 90 day rule?
Airbnb automatically tracks nights booked for entire-home listings in London and blocks further bookings once 90 nights are reached within the calendar year, unless the host has submitted proof of planning permission to lift the restriction.
Do room only Airbnb listings count toward the 90 day limit in London?
Room-only listings, where the host remains present in the property during the stay, are generally exempt from Airbnb's automatic 90-night block, since they are treated differently under the underlying planning rule.
What happens if I exceed the 90 day rule in London?
Exceeding the limit without planning permission risks enforcement action from the local borough council, which can include fines and orders to stop short-term letting, so hosts approaching the limit should apply for planning permission in advance if they intend to exceed it.
Does the 90 day rule apply across all booking platforms, not just Airbnb?
Yes, the legal limit applies to the property in aggregate across every platform it is listed on, so nights let through other sites count toward the same 90-night total even though only Airbnb automatically tracks and blocks bookings on its own platform.
