Short-term let rules in Rother (updated 2 Nov 2026)

No licensing or compulsory local registration scheme. Rother has run a voluntary registration scheme for short-term holiday lets since 2019 (asking for gas and electrical safety certificates), but the council's June 2025 report says only eight properties had registered.

A national short-term let register for England is coming under the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023; GOV.UK (updated 2 Oct 2026) says it is expected to begin in March 2027. Until then, the main local rules are council tax or business rates, planning, and fire safety.

Source: source source

No short-let control area or Article 4 direction aimed at holiday lets (checked 2 Nov 2026). The national planning data register lists 61 Article 4 directions for Rother, mostly site-specific (farmland and plots from the 1950s onwards), conservation-area directions for Rye (2007) and Winchelsea (2009), and an HMO direction for Bexhill (2011); none covers holiday lets.

The council's June 2025 report says using a home as a holiday let or second home does not usually need planning permission, but buildings with permission for holiday use are usually conditioned so they cannot be lived in as a home.

Proposed, not in force: the Rother Local Plan 2025-2042 Proposed Submission Version is out for formal consultation from 12 Oct to 24 Nov 2026. Its Policy HOU11 would make new homes allowed in the countryside under criterion (g) principal-residence only, so they could not become second homes or holiday lets, and the text supporting Policy ECO7 says that in Camber, Rye, Rye Foreign and Icklesham, proposals that lose homes to holiday accommodation are not supported (where planning permission is needed).

The council plans to submit the plan for examination by the end of 2026, with examination expected in 2027.

Source: source source source source source

No visitor levy. On 10 Sep 2026 the government announced that mayors and Foundation Strategic Authority leaders in England will get the power to bring in an Overnight Visitor Levy, as a percentage of the accommodation price.

A bill is still to come, so nothing applies yet. On 16 Jun 2025 Rother's Cabinet considered the Airbnb Task and Finish Group's report on Camber, Rye and Winchelsea and said it wants to research a tourist levy (using data from the national registration scheme once it exists), work with government on that scheme, and look at ring-fencing second homes premium income for the areas affected.

No levy has been proposed.

Source: source source source

No short-let fees. Council tax: on 26 Feb 2024 the council approved a 100% second homes premium from 1 Apr 2025, payable on top of normal council tax on a furnished home that is nobody's sole or main home, so it pays 200%.

Exceptions (national rules from 1 Apr 2025) include: annexes treated as part of the main home (Class F); homes actively marketed for sale or let (Classes G and H, 12 months); probate (Class I, 12 months); job-related homes (Class J); occupied caravan pitches and boat moorings (Class K); and seasonal homes where year-round living is banned, or a planning condition limits use to holiday accommodation or stops anyone staying more than 28 days in a row (Class L).

To claim an exception email revenuesandbenefits@rother.gov.uk with evidence. Empty and unfurnished homes (agreed 26 Feb 2024, from 1 Apr 2024): a 100% premium after 1 year, 200% after 5 years and 300% after 10 years; a change of owner does not reset the clock.

If your holiday let meets the business rates test (available at least 140 nights and actually let at least 70 nights in the last 12 months, and you plan to offer 140 nights in the next 12), it is valued for business rates instead of council tax, so the premium does not apply.

A single let with a rateable value under £15,000 may get small business rate relief.

Source: source source source source