Using your home as a short-term holiday let via Airbnb or similar platforms has new planning rules in England from 2024. Here’s what changed and what you need to know.
From 26 July 2024, short-term holiday lets in England that are not the owner’s principal home form their own use class (Class C5). A new permitted development right (Class CA) allows the change of use from C3 (dwellinghouse) to C5 (short-term let) and back, without a planning application — unless the council has made an Article 4 Direction removing this right. Short-term letting of your own home (where it’s your principal residence) remains C3 use — no change of use occurs when you let your main home periodically.
Before July 2024, short-term letting of residential properties was a grey area in planning law. The Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2024 and related GPDO amendment, which came into force on 26 July 2024, created a clear new framework with a distinct short-term let use class and a permitted development right for the change of use.
Class C5 covers dwellings used for short-term letting where the property is not the occupier’s sole or main residence. This captures Airbnb-style properties purchased specifically for short-term letting. Class C3 (dwellinghouse) continues to cover a dwelling used as someone’s main home — including occasional short-term letting while the owner is away. An owner who lives in their house and occasionally lists it on Airbnb remains in C3 use.
Part 3, Class CA of the GPDO 2015 (as amended) creates a permitted development right for the change of use from C3 to C5 (and back). In areas where no Article 4 Direction removes the right, converting a dwelling to a short-term let use doesn’t require a planning application. The Class CA right also covers the change from C5 back to C3.
The 2024 regulations specifically enable councils to make Article 4 Directions removing the Class CA permitted development right in areas where short-term let concentrations are causing problems — primarily tourist areas, coastal towns, and rural destinations. Where an Article 4 Direction removes Class CA, a full planning application is required to change a dwelling to short-term let use.
Properties that were being used as short-term lets before the new rules came into force on 26 July 2024 are subject to transitional provisions — in most cases treated as having lawfully changed to C5 use at the date the rules came into force, provided they were in short-term let use at that date.
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