The straight answer
Neither route wins for every property, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling one of them.
Short-letting tends to win when the property sits in real guest demand, presents well, sleeps a sensible number, and you either want the work or hand it to a manager. It can also win on flexibility: you keep the use of the property and you are not committed to a tenancy.
Long-term letting tends to win when demand is thin or brutally seasonal, when you want one predictable payment with minimal involvement, or when the property’s mortgage, lease or location makes short lets impractical.
We are a short-let management company, and we will still tell you when a tenancy is the better answer for your property, because signing up an unsuitable property helps nobody. Here is how to weigh it properly.
The income comparison, done properly
The classic mistake is comparing a short let’s gross revenue with a tenancy’s rent. That flatters the short let badly, because the two numbers are not the same kind of number.
A tenancy’s £1,200 a month arrives with relatively few costs: letting agent fees if you use one, maintenance, insurance, compliance, the occasional void between tenants and the risk of arrears.
A short let’s £2,200 a month is gross booking revenue. Platform commission, cleaning and laundry, utilities and broadband, consumables, specialist insurance, higher wear, and management fees if you use a manager, all come out of it before it reaches you. We walk through the full cost stack, with a worked example, in how much an Airbnb actually earns.
The only comparison that matters is net income per year at realistic occupancy versus net rent per year after tenancy costs. Run both numbers for your actual property. In strong demand areas the short let often still wins after every deduction. In weak ones, it does not, and finding that out on paper is a great deal cheaper than finding out in February.
Income shape: steady or seasonal
A tenancy pays the same in January as in July. A short let almost never does. UK leisure markets earn a large share of the year in the summer months and school holidays, with shoulder seasons doing solid work and deep winter often quiet.
That shape is manageable: pricing for the peaks, mid-term stays through the quiet months, realistic budgeting across the year. But it needs managing, and it needs a temperament that will not panic at a quiet fortnight. If you need identical income every month to sleep at night, that is a genuine argument for a tenancy, and it is better to admit it up front.
The workload difference
Self-managing a short let is a part-time job with unsociable hours: enquiries, pricing, changeovers, guest messages at 9pm, cleaner coordination, restocking, reviews. Some owners enjoy it. Many discover they do not, usually around the August bank holiday.
A tenancy is far quieter, though not effortless: compliance, repairs, inspections, renewals and the occasional difficult patch.
Full management moves the short-let workload off the owner: the day-to-day running, guest handling and operations are handled for you, and you stay hands-off with reporting to keep you in the loop. You still own the property and its big decisions; the point is that nobody needs you at 9pm on a Saturday.
Flexibility and control
Short lets keep the property yours in a way tenancies do not. You can block dates and use it yourself where that is agreed, you can stop and sell with vacant possession, and you can change strategy season by season. With a tenancy, the property is the tenant’s home, with everything that rightly involves: notice rules, possession processes and a growing body of tenant protection law.
The flip side: a short let must be furnished, equipped and kept guest-ready, and its income depends on continuous demand rather than one signature a year.
Rules and tax: what changed recently
This section was checked on 7 July 2026. Rules move; confirm the current position for your property before acting.
- London: entire homes can be short-let for a maximum of 90 nights a calendar year without planning permission. Beyond that you need permission from the borough.
- Scotland: you need a short-term let licence before taking bookings, and operating without one is a criminal offence.
- England: the government has confirmed a national registration scheme for short lets, but it is not yet live as of July 2026. If you are starting now, check the current status so you are ready to register when it opens.
- Tax: the furnished holiday lettings regime, which used to give holiday lets favourable tax treatment, was abolished from April 2025. Short-let income is now taxed in line with other property income. What that means for you specifically is an accountant conversation, not a blog’s.
- Your own permissions: leasehold flats frequently have leases that restrict or forbid short lets, and most mortgages need the lender’s consent for a change of use. Check both before you list anything, whichever route you choose.
None of this makes short-letting impractical. It does mean the casual era is over: treat compliance as part of the business case, not an afterthought. We flag the obvious permission questions for your property as part of a valuation.
A middle route: mid-term lets
The choice is not strictly binary. Stays of a month or more, for contractors, relocations and people between homes, sit between the two models: better rates than a tenancy, less turnover than nightly lets, and steadier through winter. For some properties the strongest strategy is mixed, with nightly stays through the season and mid-term bookings through the quiet months. It is one of the levers we look at when we assess a property.
How to decide for your property
Five questions get you most of the way:
- Is there real guest demand where the property is, across enough of the year?
- What would it net as a short let at realistic booked nights, after every cost?
- What would it net as a tenancy, after voids and agent fees?
- Do the property’s permissions, lease and mortgage allow short lets at all?
- How much do you value flexibility and personal use against a fixed monthly payment?
Questions one and two are exactly what a proper valuation answers. Get a free Airbnb valuation and we will give you the realistic short-let range for your property, with the assumptions shown, and a straight recommendation, including “keep it as a tenancy” when that is the truthful answer.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need my mortgage lender’s permission?
Usually, yes. Most residential and buy-to-let mortgages require consent, or a switch to a suitable product, before short-letting. Speak to your lender or a broker before listing; it is a quick check that avoids an expensive problem.
Can I short-let a leasehold flat?
Only if the lease allows it, and many do not. Some leases forbid it outright, others require freeholder consent. Read the lease and take advice before doing anything else; in Scotland you would also need a licence, and in London the 90-night cap applies.
Can I switch back to a tenancy later?
Yes. One of short-letting’s underrated features is that it is reversible: no sitting tenant, no possession process. Owners sometimes short-let for a period, then return to a tenancy or sell. The furniture and setup costs are the main sunk investment.
Is Airbnb still worth it in the UK in 2026?
For the right property, yes; the market has matured rather than died. Regulation is tighter, the old tax perks have gone and casual listings struggle against professional ones. The properties that do well now are the ones chosen and run deliberately, which is either your job or a manager’s.
