UK short-let deadlines: next 90 days

If your accommodation is open for bookings before 1 April 2027, you must register with the Welsh Revenue Authority (WRA) by 31 March 2027. This applies if you take bookings for overnight stays in Wales of 31 nights or fewer, even if your council never charges a visitor levy. Registration is free. If you start taking bookings after 1 April 2027, register before you open for bookings.

Cardiff Council starts the visitor levy on 1 April 2027, and Cardiff providers must start accounting for it from 28 September 2026. Cardiff is the only Welsh council charging the levy so far, and the WRA lists no councils consulting on one.

Returns are quarterly, in arrears, through visitorlevy.scot. For stays from 1 October to 31 December 2026, submit your return between 1 and 30 January 2027 and pay by 13 February 2027. For stays from 1 January to 31 March 2027, submit between 1 and 30 April 2027 and pay by 14 May 2027. If a stay spans two quarters, include it in the return for the quarter when the guest checked out.

Glasgow: 5% for the full stay, from 25 January 2027. Aberdeen: 7% for the full stay, from 1 April 2027, on bookings made from 1 October 2026. Stirling: 3%, from 14 June 2027, on bookings made from 1 January 2027 (Stirling residents are exempt, and nights beyond 7 can be refunded). West Dunbartonshire: 5% for the full stay, from 1 July 2027, on bookings made from 1 October 2026.

GOV.UK (updated 2 October 2026) says the mandatory national registration scheme for short-term lets in England is expected to begin in March 2027. No exact date, regulations, portal or fee have been published yet, so there is nothing to register with today.

Before it expires. You can apply to renew at any time before expiry, and if your licence expires while the council is still deciding, you can keep letting until it decides. If your licence lapses before you apply, you must make a new application instead. Councils usually grant licences for up to 3 years at first, so check the expiry date on your licence and your council's advice on how early to apply.

For the 2025 to 2026 tax year, paper returns must reach HMRC by 11:59pm on 31 October 2026 and online returns are due by 11:59pm on 31 January 2027. Any tax you owe must also be paid by 11:59pm on 31 January 2027. To pay through your tax code instead, file online by 30 December 2026.

Not yet. Licensing is a separate scheme under the Development of Tourism and Regulation of Visitor Accommodation (Wales) Act 2026, starting with self-catering accommodation. The Welsh Government says the legal default is that the scheme comes into force in March 2030 (section 61 of the Act), and there will be more consultation on the detailed rules first. WRA registration is the step you need to take now.

The UK Short-Let Rules team checks every date on this page against its official source, linked in each row. Dates that have passed drop off automatically, and changes are logged in our changes log. Dates can still move, so always check the source before acting.