England's short-let register has a date. By March.
Lisa Nandy told the Commons on Thursday the national scheme will be "up and running in full by March", which means March 2027. It's the first firm month the government has put on it.
Where that leaves the UK:
→ Scotland: licensing, in force since October 2022
→ Northern Ireland: certification, long established
→ Wales: visitor accommodation register opens October 2026, deadline 31 March 2027
→ England: register fully operational by March 2027
What we still don't know about England:
→ What you'll have to submit
→ Who administers it
→ How often you re-register
→ Whether the secondary legislation the department said it needed in February has moved
Two things in the same session worth noting. The question that drew the answer was about London's 90-day cap and the inability to enforce it without a register. And the tourism minister confirmed the government is developing an overnight visitor levy power for England, permissive, for local areas that choose to use it.
Elsewhere this week:
→ Wednesday: the European Commission presents its Affordable Housing Act. The draft seen by Reuters and AFP sets a test for when cities can restrict short-term rentals, favours caps and grandfathering over bans, and exempts primary residences. Full bulletin Thursday.
→ Greece: the finance ministry's breakdown of Saturday's Thessaloniki package, as reported by Skai and Eleftheros Typos today, extends the freeze on new short-term rental registrations in central Athens and Thessaloniki into 2027.
Registration isn't restriction. It's the data restriction runs on.
If you operate in England, what's the one thing you'd want the register to get right?
