Holiday let planning trends
The holiday let planning index stands at 234: well over twice its 2016 share, but almost a third below its July 2024 peak.
Holiday let applications since 2016
Holiday let applications in every 10,000 planning applications, over the 12 months to each month
How this is measuredThe dotted line leaves out Scotland and Wales. Short-term let licensing in Scotland made existing lets apply for permission, and Wales brought in new planning rules for holiday lets, so applications there follow the rules more than new lets.
Scotland and Wales apart
From 2023 to 2025 Scotland had 665 holiday let applications in every 10,000 and Wales 157, driven by licensing and new rules. The rest of the UK had 47, the South West 92. London homes can be let 90 nights a year without permission.
The 2023 rise and a licensing deadline
Applications rose from 3,247 in 2021 to 5,588 in 2023.
Q3 2026 against a year earlier
Councils received 860 holiday let applications in Q3 2026: 84 in every 10,000 applications, against 99 in Q3 2025, a share of all applications 16% lower than a year earlier.
Holiday let applications each quarter
860 in Q3 2026, against 1,088 a year earlier.
Out of every 10,000 applications
As a share of every application: 84 in every 10,000 in Q3 2026, against 99 a year earlier.
Where holiday let applications concentrate
By region
Holiday let applications in every 10,000 planning applications, 2023 to 2025
Scotland and Wales are shaded and left out of the UK line, for the same reason.
Councils with the most
Applications since 2016
-
City of Edinburgh
Scotland · 748 in every 10,000 3,717 -
Highland
Scotland · 658 in every 10,000 2,304 -
Cornwall
South West · 177 in every 10,000 1,366 -
North Yorkshire
Yorkshire and Humber · 128 in every 10,000 865 -
Somerset
South West · 144 in every 10,000 824 -
Lake District National Park
North West · 429 in every 10,000 533 -
Glasgow
Scotland · 197 in every 10,000 526 -
Shropshire
West Midlands · 151 in every 10,000 484 -
Yorkshire Dales National Park
Yorkshire and Humber · 709 in every 10,000 476 -
Wiltshire
South West · 79 in every 10,000 448
Latest holiday let applications
- Ashill Gun Club, Cutbush Farm Common Road, Ashill, Norfolk Use of 2 no existing buildings as holiday lets - retrospective - Schedule 2
- Land At (Os 0350 4664) Lenchwick Lane Twyford Reinstatement, extension and re-development of 2 former bothies (agricultural workers accommodation/hovels) and associated buildings into 2 x holiday lets and associated works including change of use agricultural land to amenity land and new/altered access arrangements
- 2 Woodland Drive, Hawkinge, Folkestone, Kent Change of use of an existing detached annex to a holiday let.
- Coach House, 43 South Street, Hythe Change of use from Holiday let dwelling to a permanent dwelling
- 76 Burnside Road Dyce Aberdeen Change of use of flat to short-term let accommodation with maximum occupancy of 4 people
- Preachers Yard Aldwark York Change of use of 4no. dwellings (use class C3) to 4no. holiday let apartments (Sui Generis) - retrospective
How often are they refused?
Of 24,045 received 2016 to 2024 and decided, 20.3% were refused, well above the 11.3% for all applications.
Refusal rate by year
Decisions, applications received 2016 to 2024
- Approved or refused24,045
- Refused20.3%
- Withdrawn before a decision3,161
- All applications11.3% refused
Questions
How many holiday let planning applications are there in the UK?
Councils have received 36,433 since January 2016, 3,680 of them in the 12 months to September 2026. Their share peaked in the 12 months to July 2024.
Where are the most holiday let applications being made?
City of Edinburgh, Highland and Cornwall have received the most since 2016.
How often are holiday let applications refused?
Of 24,045 received 2016 to 2024 and decided, 20.3% were refused, well above the 11.3% for all applications.
Are holiday let applications rising or falling?
Down on three years ago, flat since mid 2025. In the 12 months to September 2026 it was 20% below three years earlier, on 3,680 applications. The holiday let planning index stands at 234: well over twice its 2016 share.
About Plota
Plota is the UK's most visited planning search, according to Similarweb. It shows every new planning application from every UK council, read daily from 390 planning registers, with past applications back to 2016 from more than 420 registers, including those of councils since merged. It also covers planning committee decisions, HMO licences and premises licences.
How this is measured
What needs an application
In Scottish control areas such as Edinburgh, a short-term let licence needs planning permission or a pending application.
Methodology
- What is counted: planning applications to UK councils whose description names holiday lets or a close variant of the words, by the date each council received them. These are planning applications, not completed schemes; the largest energy and infrastructure projects are consented nationally rather than by councils, so they sit outside these counts.
- How matches are checked: we read the 200 most recent holiday let applications and 20 from every year since 2016 to confirm each one belongs.
- Topic counts leave out, by design, works to trees and applications that only discharge conditions, amend an earlier permission or approve reserved matters, which follow a scheme already counted. Everything else is counted.
- A share is the number out of every 10,000 applications over the previous 12 months. Each topic is a number in every 10,000 planning applications, so trends compare when overall planning activity changes; the share still moves when either the topic's count or the total does. The holiday let planning index sets the 2016 share at 100, so 200 means twice as common as in 2016.
- Source: the planning registers of every UK council, January 2016 to September 2026, read on 9 November 2026.
- Planning is seasonal, so each quarter is compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
- Year on year: each topic's and theme's share of all applications in Q3 2026, against Q3 2025, at every council we hold. A share is the number in every 10,000 applications. Shares compare across councils and years; raw counts do not.
- Left out of the topic shares: Birmingham's applications from June to September 2026: a validation backlog at the council since June 2026: of 685 reference numbers it issued in September, its register lists 288. The same months a year earlier are left out too, so every comparison covers the same councils.
- Refusals: applications received 2016 to 2024 and decided, at councils whose published decisions pass our checks against their decision notices. Approvals and refusals count; withdrawals do not. "All applications" means every decision of that kind at the same councils over the same years. Applications received from 2025 are added once most are decided.
- Download the data (CSV): every topic and theme, each quarter since 2016.
Sources
- 55% of short-term let licence applications validated in Scotland to the end of 2023 arrived in Q3 2023, before the 1 October 2023 deadline for existing hosts. gov.scot
- Inside a short-term let control area such as Edinburgh, a licence applicant must hold planning permission or have an application pending. gov.scot