The Short-Let Registration Scheme: Where It Actually Stands

England's mandatory registration scheme for short-term lets has been "coming soon" for a while now. If you operate — or are thinking about operating — a short let, here's the honest, current state of it, not the version that's been repeated since 2024.

What was promised

The scheme's legal foundation was set out in the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023, with a mandatory national scheme confirmed in principle in February 2024. Every short-term let would need a unique registration number, displayed on every listing across every platform, with platforms barred from listing unregistered properties. A target go-live of April 2026 was repeated publicly as recently as mid-2025.

What's actually happened

As things stand, the scheme still hasn't gone live. The April 2026 target slipped, and the current government framing is "later in 2026," without a confirmed date. A private beta ran in late 2025 with a small number of participants, but the public portal, the fee structure, and whether existing hosts get a grace period to register are all still unconfirmed.

What's genuinely separate from this

It's easy to conflate three different things:

• The 90-night cap on entire-home short lets in Greater London — this is existing law under the Deregulation Act 2015, and has nothing to do with the new registration scheme.
• EPC requirements for short lets — currently a minimum Band E if let for four months or more a year, unaffected by registration timing.
• Standard safety obligations — gas safety, electrical checks, smoke alarms — these already apply regardless of registration, and always have.

What to actually do now

Don't wait for a portal that doesn't exist yet. The safety certificates, compliance documentation, and property records the scheme will eventually require are worth having in order regardless — they're good practice with or without a registration number attached to them.