PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
(3 July 2025)

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate her Department has made of the tax revenue from ensuring compliance with rules on eligibility of short-term lets for business rates.

Asked by:
Rachel Blake (Labour)

Before a short-term let can be assessed as a self-catering accommodation (short-term let) for business rates purposes it must have been available to let for at least 140 days in the past year and demonstrate at least 70 days of actual letting activity in the last year.

It is for local authorities to bill and collect business rates. The government does not make an estimate of the number of short-term lets who choose not to be assessed for business rates or do not meet these criteria. However, the government does collect data on the number of short-term lets assessed for business rates. The latest available data from March 2025 shows that there are 65,380 short-term lets assessed for business rates in England.

Where a property does not meet these criteria, it will usually be considered domestic, and liable for council tax in the same way as any other domestic property.

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