Latest / STR Unpacked / England's short-let register was due this month. It's not here yet.
Transcript
- Ben: Good morning and welcome to your short-term rental bulletin. This morning I would like to talk about England short-term rental register. The deadline was given, the deadline has come, the deadline has gone, nothing has happened. The government confirmed it's still progressing the scheme for a national digital register where every short-let property in England must be registered before it can be listed on Airbnb and booking.com or anywhere else. And the target was April, 2026. But as of right now, there is no system, no guidance and no enforcement mechanism. And frankly, if you're an operator, you're in limbo. So what do we know already? The Leveling Up and Regeneration Act gave the government the powers to implement a new C5 planning class. ⁓ this already exists, meaning that short-term lets are now ⁓ distinct from residential homes. ⁓ furnished holiday let. tax regime was abolished last year and local authorities can already block conversions from residential to shortlets in their areas. So the regulatory architecture is being built piece by piece. The register when it does arrive will require every host to submit property details, safety certificates and get a registration number that must appear on every listing. Platforms will be required to enforce it. For professional operators, especially those running compliant portfolios, this is good news long term. It levels the playing fields with hotels and squeezes out the gray area market. But right now in this moment, England has all the tent and none of the infrastructure. So watch this space and thank you for watching. I'll see you tomorrow.