Why a national register should boost the holiday let sector

A national register for short-term lets is set to launch in England from April 2026, and it could be good news for holiday home owners. With a light-touch approach expected, the register should improve data accuracy, support fairer conversations with councils, boost local economies, and help raise standards across the sector.

Holiday home owners should welcome a national register for short-term lets as the move looks set to bolster the sector.

The government will require those engaged in property management on the likes of Airbnb and Vrbo in England to log their holiday homes on a national register from April 2026. For owners navigating professional support options, our overview of Airbnb co-hosting and holiday let management explains how we help owners stay compliant and informed.

This is a change the industry has long lobbied for, and thankfully for owners, the push from some major players has been for a ‘light touch’ approach.

This means the process of registering should not be onerous or impactful upon Airbnb property management. We regularly support owners with compliance questions as part of our co-hosting service, ensuring requirements are clearly understood and managed locally.

Some stakeholders had wanted a more complex system involving the uploading of documents and certifications.

But what looks likely to emerge instead is a system where owners declare that their property meets legal requirements, and if this turns out to be false, then sanctions could be possible.

There are several other potential benefits expected once the register goes live.

Galvanising support

The short-term let sector has pushed for the creation of a register for some time.

A key driver behind this has been the desire for official figures to show how many short-let properties are being run by owners or Airbnb co-hosts in specific areas. This kind of transparency is particularly important in rural and coastal communities where many HolidayHost owners operate. You can explore these areas on our Locations page.

Andy Fenner, the chief executive of the Short Term Accommodation Association (STAA), believes such data will be vital.

“We often get into issues with local councils that blame our sector for a lack of housing in their area, and for causing rents to go up,”
Andy Fenner, the chief executive of the Short Term Accommodation Association (STAA)

He highlighted examples where councils had simply counted all the short-term lets on accommodation websites, like Airbnb and Vrbo, not realising that many properties will be marketed on multiple platforms.

A register will mean councils will not be able to inflate short-let property figures for their area, potentially leading to support for the sector.

“When councils can see how many holiday lets they actually have in their area, there could be conversations about increasing availability because they’ll realise short-term accommodation isn’t the issue they thought it was,” Mr Fenner said.

He added that “neither the government, Visit England nor us know how many holiday homes there are in the likes of St Ives or Brighton”, and such information could be important.

The Tourism Alliance listed this as a reason for its support of the register, stating it would “ensure local authorities and central bodies have access to robust data about the short-term lets sector which is currently lacking”.

A key rationale for the previous government launching its consultation on the register also related to the availability of data it would create, suggesting it could support local authorities to make decisions about how to support the sector alongside wider housing availability.

Economic boost

Short-term let proponents say it brings a different economic benefit to some other forms of accommodation.

The government’s 2023 consultation predicted a global visitor industry growth of 3 per cent year-on-year over the rest of the decade, meaning a registration scheme would “play a role in continuing to develop a responsible, high-quality and competitive short-term lets sector”.

While hotels might employ local staff, the profits earned by the bigger brands tend to go to owners or shareholders, with guests often eating in those premises too.

But Mr Fenner believes guests in short-term lets tend to use a wider array of local businesses.

With a register in force, the likes of shop owners and pub landlords could see the true scale of short-let accommodation in their areas, and consequently become advocates for holiday home growth in their locality.

This local spending effect is something we actively encourage through our local Host network, where Hosts guide guests towards independent businesses.

Finally, there’s a belief the register could help improve the quality of offerings in the short-let market.

Improving standards

Only holiday lets that are listed on the national register will be able to market themselves on Airbnb or Vrbo, meaning towns and cities with higher numbers of registered properties could see an economic boost.

“We want to reach the highest standards, but to do that, we need to know who people are, as now you can have people who put their property on a platform and don’t maintain it properly, and those people can bring the industry down,” Mr Fenner said.

“We welcome new people, but we want to train and educate them about what running a holiday let involves.”

It has not yet been confirmed how the register will be administered, but industry stakeholders have suggested it would make sense for Visit England to oversee it rather than councils.

Insiders say they are still awaiting more information from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport about the specifics of the scheme, but the STAA added it was “working very closely” with officials to ensure its members’ views were taken into account.

Tourism England has lobbied for one registration fee per business rate or council tax account to ensure a “simple and straightforward way of implementing the scheme”.

If owners require any support with the forthcoming register, please don’t hesitate to contact our team at HolidayHost via our contact page or speak directly with a local hosting expert.

What happens next

While the direction of travel is becoming clearer, there is still uncertainty around how the national register will be implemented in practice and what longer-term impact it may have on the holiday let sector. As more details emerge, we will continue to monitor developments closely and share clear, practical updates to help owners stay informed and prepared.