United Kingdom·Destination guide · Western Europe
United Kingdom
51.5072° N · Western Europe · Outside Schengen
The UK runs its own rulebook — and Scotland is already well ahead of England.
A 1972 immigration order still sets the baseline records duty for every paid stay in the country. On top of that, Scotland requires a short-term let licence to operate at all; England has legislated the power for a national register but has not switched it on. None of this is EU law — the UK left that stack behind.
NextStay relevance · United Kingdom
3 / 5
Elevated
A national records duty applies everywhere (Hotel Records Order 1972); Scotland already runs full short-term let licensing — high locally — while England's national register power exists but is not yet live.
At a glance · United Kingdom
Records
1972 Order, all guests 16+
Scotland
STL licence required
England
National register not yet live
Edinburgh
5% levy from 24 Jul 2026
Who this is for
What hosts and hotels actually need to know
The United Kingdom is not one regulatory system wearing four regional hats — it is four devolved settlements sitting on top of one UK-wide records duty. The Immigration (Hotel Records) Order 1972 applies throughout the UK to any premises that provide lodging for reward, from a five-star hotel to a single spare-room let. Scotland then adds a full licensing regime on top; Northern Ireland adds Tourism NI certification for visitor accommodation. England has passed the law for a national short-term rental register but, as of mid-2026, has not brought the operative regulations into force (GOV.UK still labels registration 'not yet in force'). London and a handful of cities add their own planning caps and visitor charges. And critically: the EU legal layer that shapes so much of the rest of this dossier series — Schengen Article 45, EU GDPR, the EU's 2024 short-term rental data regulation — simply does not reach the UK. A different, UK-only data and border framework applies instead.
Front desk or digital, the 1972 Order's records duty is the floor. Scotland-based hotels also sit inside short-term let licensing unless a specific exemption applies; England-based hotels wait on a national register that is not yet operative.
- 01Record full name and nationality for every guest aged 16 or over, on arrival
- 02For non-British/Irish/Commonwealth guests, also capture passport details on arrival and next destination on departure
- 03Keep every record in writing for at least 12 months, open to police inspection
- 04Check whether Scotland's short-term let licensing regime or exemptions apply to your premises type
Chapter · Records
The Hotel Records Order — the UK-wide floor
Long before short-term let licensing existed, the Immigration (Hotel Records) Order 1972 set a public-security records duty for anywhere a guest sleeps for reward. It has never been repealed and it is easy to miss because its title undersells its reach.
Statute
“This Order shall apply in the case of any hotel or other premises, whether furnished or unfurnished, where lodging or sleeping accommodation is provided for reward…”
- 01
Scope is deliberately broad
'Hotel or other premises' covers any accommodation provided for reward, including furnished or unfurnished residential lettings. Guidance interpreting the Order treats short-term rentals and even single-room lets as falling within it — the label on the listing does not matter, the fact of paid lodging does.
- 02
Every guest 16 and over
On arrival, every person aged 16 or over must give the keeper of the premises their full name and nationality. This applies to every adult in the party, not just the person who made the booking.
- 03
Extra fields for non-British/Irish/Commonwealth guests
A guest who is an 'alien' under the Order — broadly, not a British citizen, a Commonwealth citizen, a British protected person, or a citizen of the Republic of Ireland — must also give passport (or other identity/nationality document) number and place of issue on arrival, and their next destination (and address, if known) on or before departure.
- 04
Keep records for 12 months, open to inspection
The keeper of the premises must keep a written record of arrival dates and all information supplied under the Order for at least 12 months, available at all times to a constable or a person authorised by the Secretary of State.
Chapter · Scotland licence
Scotland: licence before you list
Scotland does not leave short-term letting to planning law and a records order alone. Since 1 October 2022, a short-term let licence is a precondition to operating at all — the strongest local regime anywhere in the UK.
- 01
Licence required nationwide
The Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) Order 2022 designates short-term letting as a licensable activity across every local authority area in Scotland from 1 October 2022. A short-term let is broadly commercial residential accommodation provided to a guest who is not using it as their main home, subject to defined exclusions (e.g. certain long-stay tenancies, immediate family, education placements).
- 02
Apply before you take a single booking
Operators must hold a licence (or a valid temporary exemption while an application is pending, in defined transitional circumstances) before accepting bookings or receiving guests. Operating unlicensed is a criminal offence, punishable on summary conviction by a fine of up to £2,500.
- 03
Mandatory conditions, plus local extras
The Order sets mandatory licence conditions (covering matters such as safety checks, insurance, and guest information) that apply to every Scottish licence and cannot be exempted by a council. Local authorities can add further conditions, and licence duration varies by letting type — for example shorter terms for secondary letting than for home sharing.
- 04
Edinburgh's control area
Edinburgh operates an additional planning control area covering secondary letting of whole dwellings (not the host's main home) in defined parts of the city, layering planning permission requirements for change of use on top of the licence itself.
Chapter · England & London
England, Wales, Northern Ireland — the patchwork
England has the legal power for a national short-term rental register, but not the register. London runs its own planning cap. Manchester runs a business levy that is easy to mislabel as a tourist tax.
- 01
England's register power exists — it is not switched on
Section 228 of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 requires the Secretary of State to make regulations creating a registration scheme for specified short-term rental properties in England. As of mid-2026, GOV.UK still labels the scheme 'not yet in force' and expected to begin in 2026. Treat this as 'expected, not yet live' — do not describe England as having a register today.
- 02
London: the 90-night rule
Section 44 of the Deregulation Act 2015 lets a whole residential property in Greater London be used as short-term temporary sleeping accommodation for up to 90 nights in a calendar year without needing planning permission for change of use — provided a person liable for council tax on the property is one of the accommodation providers for each counted night. Go over 90 nights (across all platforms combined) without planning permission and it is a breach of planning control.
- 03
Manchester's City Visitor Charge — a BID levy, not a statutory tax
Manchester's £1-plus-VAT-per-room-per-night City Visitor Charge is collected through the Manchester Accommodation Business Improvement District (a statutory BID levy on participating businesses), not a government-imposed tourist tax. It is commonly reported in the press as a 'tourist tax', but hosts and platforms should describe it accurately as a business-led BID charge funding local marketing and visitor-experience projects.
- 04
No single UK-wide short-let statute
There is no equivalent of Italy's CIN or Lithuania's E.turistas that spans all four nations. Wales is developing its own registration and licensing approach on a separate timeline. Treat 'UK rules' as shorthand for four separate regimes plus the 1972 records floor underneath all of them.
Chapter · UK data & border
UK data & border layer — deliberately not the EU's
Every other country dossier in this series layers Schengen, EU GDPR and the EU's short-term rental data regulation underneath local law. None of that reaches the United Kingdom. Getting this wrong is the single most common mistake hosts make when they copy an EU compliance checklist onto a UK property.
- 01
Schengen Article 45 does not apply
The UK is not, and has never been, part of the Schengen Area. Article 45(1)(b) of the Convention Implementing the Schengen Agreement — the lodging-provider guest-record purpose cited throughout this dossier series for EU states — has no application in the UK. The UK's equivalent baseline is purely domestic: the Immigration (Hotel Records) Order 1972.
- 02
EU GDPR does not apply — UK GDPR, DPA 2018 and the DUAA do
Since leaving the EU, the UK operates its own regime: the UK GDPR (the retained, UK-specific version of the EU regulation), the Data Protection Act 2018, and — since Royal Assent on 19 June 2025 — the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (DUAA). The DUAA amends rather than replaces the UK GDPR and DPA 2018. ICO guidance updated 19 June 2026 confirms all of its data-protection provisions are now in force (phased commencement through February and June 2026, including the mandatory controller complaints procedure from 19 June 2026). Guest identity and document data processed under the Hotel Records Order or a Scottish licence must be handled under this UK framework, regulated by the ICO — not under the EU's Regulation (EU) 2016/679.
- 03
The EU's short-term rental data regulation does not apply
Regulation (EU) 2024/1028, which harmonises short-term rental registration data and platform reporting across EU Member States from 20 May 2026, is an EU instrument and does not extend to the UK post-Brexit. Any UK-wide registration data framework will come from England's own Section 228 regulations (not yet in force) and Scotland's existing licensing data, not from Brussels.
Remote arrival · Still the law
Self check-in: no de visu case law, but records still have to exist
Unlike Italy's 2025 Council of State ruling on visual identity matching, there is no equivalent UK case law demanding a face-to-face or live-video identity check before access. The compliance risk in the UK is almost entirely about whether the record exists and is retrievable — not about how the door is opened.
Digital capture is fine if the record is kept
The 1972 Order does not prescribe a method of collection. A pre-arrival online form that captures full name, nationality, and (for non-British/Irish/Commonwealth guests) passport details and onward destination satisfies the Order provided the written record is retained for 12 months and produced on request.
Scottish licence conditions may add their own steps
A short-term let licence's mandatory and local conditions can require specific guest-information provisions (safety information, emergency contacts) that go beyond the 1972 Order. Build these into the same pre-arrival flow rather than a separate process.
Levy and charge collection timing
Edinburgh's Visitor Levy and Manchester's City Visitor Charge are billing events, not identity checks — but both need to be triggered at or before the same pre-arrival or check-in moment where guest data is captured, so pricing and remittance line up with the stay.
England's coming register will likely add a check, not remove one
When Section 228 regulations eventually bring England's national register into force, expect a registration-number-display duty layered on top of the 1972 Order — not a replacement for it. Design pre-arrival data capture now so a registration number field slots in later.
City & national layers
The 1972 Order and Scotland's licence are the spine. London, Edinburgh and Manchester each add a layer on top that only applies inside their boundary.
London — the 90-night planning cap
01London — the 90-night planning cap
Whole-home short lets across Greater London are capped at 90 nights per calendar year without planning permission, under Section 44 of the Deregulation Act 2015. The cap applies per property across all booking platforms combined, and requires a council-tax-liable person to be one of the accommodation providers for each counted night.
Edinburgh — Visitor Levy from 24 July 2026
02Edinburgh — Visitor Levy from 24 July 2026
Edinburgh's Visitor Levy charges 5% on the accommodation-only cost of a paid overnight stay (excluding VAT, meals, parking and other extras), capped at the first five consecutive nights. It applies to stays from 24 July 2026 onward, but only where the booking was made and paid for (in part or full) on or after 1 October 2025 — stays booked and paid before that date are exempt even if they fall after the go-live date.
Manchester — City Visitor Charge (BID, not a statutory tax)
03Manchester — City Visitor Charge (BID, not a statutory tax)
The Manchester Accommodation Business Improvement District collects a £1-plus-VAT-where-applicable charge per room per night from participating hotels and serviced apartments inside its BID zone, funding marketing and visitor-experience activity. It is a statutory BID levy agreed by accommodation businesses, not a government tourist tax — worth phrasing precisely in guest communications and pricing pages.
This is the law · Here is the reference
Sources & references
Primary statutes, EU instruments and competent authorities. Open the link when your property is at stake.
- [01]Local lawThe Immigration (Hotel Records) Order 1972 (SI 1972/1689)
Primary UK-wide records duty — guest name/nationality for all, passport and onward destination for non-British/Irish/Commonwealth guests, 12-month retention.
- [02]AgencyVisitBritain — guest register under the Hotel Records Order 1972
Official industry guidance confirming UK-wide scope over serviced and self-catering premises, fields required, and 12-month retention.
- [03]Local lawCivic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) Order 2022 (SSI 2022/32)
Statutory basis for Scotland-wide short-term let licensing from 1 October 2022.
- [04]AuthorityScottish Government — short-term lets regulation information
Official overview of Scotland's licensing scheme for hosts and operators (guidance refreshed May 2026).
- [05]AuthorityScottish Government — short-term lets enforcement
Confirms unlicensed operation is an offence with a maximum fine of £2,500; do not take bookings until licensed.
- [06]AuthorityCity of Edinburgh Council — short-term let licence guidance notes
Mandatory licence conditions, licence duration by letting type, and Edinburgh's secondary-letting control area.
- [07]Local lawLevelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023, section 228
Statutory power for a national short-term rental property register in England — not yet brought into force as of mid-2026.
- [08]AuthorityGOV.UK — Delivering a registration scheme for short-term lets
Government's stated approach to the future English register, following consultation; confirms it is still in development, not live.
- [09]AuthorityGOV.UK — Letting out a self-catering holiday home in England
Updated May 2026; explicitly labels the national registration scheme 'not yet in force' and expected in 2026.
- [10]Local lawDeregulation Act 2015, section 44
Statutory basis for London's 90-night short-let exception to planning permission.
- [11]AuthorityGLA — Short-term and holiday letting in London (Housing Research Note 4)
Official Greater London Authority note on the 90-night cap and council-tax condition (HTML City Hall page returns 403 to automated fetch; PDF is the durable cite).
- [12]AuthorityCity of Edinburgh Council — About the Edinburgh Visitor Levy
5% rate, first-five-nights cap, and pre-VAT accommodation-only basis.
- [13]AuthorityCity of Edinburgh Council — Timeline for implementing the Visitor Levy
24 July 2026 go-live date and the 1 October 2025 booking cut-off for liability.
- [14]AuthorityManchester Accommodation BID — City Visitor Charge
£1-plus-VAT-where-applicable per room per night, collected via statutory BID levy since April 2023.
- [15]AgencyVisit Manchester — Manchester Accommodation Business Improvement District
Confirms the Charge funds BID marketing/visitor activity and is collected across the BID zone, not as a government tax.
- [16]EU lawConvention Implementing the Schengen Agreement — Article 45
The EU lodging/guest-record provision that does NOT apply to the UK — included for contrast with other dossiers in this series.
- [17]AuthorityGOV.UK — Data (Use and Access) Act 2025: data protection and privacy changes
Confirms the DUAA amends (not replaces) UK GDPR, DPA 2018 and PECR — the UK's own framework, distinct from EU GDPR.
- [18]AuthorityICO — The Data (Use and Access) Act 2025: what does it mean for organisations?
Regulator guidance on DUAA commencement and UK GDPR/DPA 2018 changes through 2026.
- [19]EU lawRegulation (EU) 2024/1028 — short-term rental data
EU framework for STR registration data and platform sharing (from 20 May 2026) — does NOT extend to the UK post-Brexit; included for contrast.
After the law · The product
Where NextStay fits
The UK's compliance risk is rarely about verifying a face at the door — it is about whether the Hotel Records fields exist in writing, whether a Scottish licence number is on file, and whether levy and charge collection line up with the stay. NextStay turns that into structured pre-arrival capture instead of a filing cabinet.
01
Hotel Records fields, captured once
Online check-in collects full name, nationality, and — where the guest is not British, Irish or a Commonwealth citizen — passport details and next destination, in the exact shape the 1972 Order expects, retained well past the 12-month minimum.
02
Every adult in the party, not just the booker
Flows extend past a single reservation name to every guest aged 16 and over, matching the Order's scope and keeping Scottish licence conditions and levy headcounts consistent.
03
Levy and charge logic without spreadsheet chasing
Edinburgh's 5% levy on the first five nights and Manchester's per-room BID charge can be reflected in guest-facing pricing and host reporting tied to the same booking record used for compliance data.
04
One workspace, four UK regimes
Hosts running properties across nations see Scotland's licence status, London's 90-night count, and England's still-pending register side by side — instead of four separate mental models.
Cities in United Kingdom
London
The 90-night planning cap on whole-home lets sits alongside the UK-wide Hotel Records duty — track nights and guest records on the same calendar.
90-night cap · Council tax condition · Hotel Records fields
Edinburgh
The strictest UK city for short lets: a Scotland-wide licence, a local secondary-letting control area, and — from 24 July 2026 — a 5% Visitor Levy on top.
Short-term let licence · Control area · Visitor Levy from Jul 2026
Manchester
No licence regime yet, but hosts inside the Accommodation BID zone collect the City Visitor Charge — a business levy worth describing accurately to guests.
City Visitor Charge · BID zone · Hotel Records fields
NextStay provides operational tools and general regulatory information, not legal advice. Hosts remain responsible for confirming the rules that apply to their accommodation in United Kingdom. Research last verified .