If you own a property to let and you feel like the rules changed twice this year, you are not imagining it. In 2026 both ends of the rental market moved at the same time. Long lets were reshaped by the Renters’ Rights Act, and short lets are living under the shadow of a registration scheme that keeps being promised. If you are trying to decide which way to run a property, the honest answer is that the old rules of thumb no longer apply.
Two big changes, one year
It is unusual for both halves of a market to shift in the same twelve months, but that is where we are. On the long let side, the abolition of Section 21 has changed the balance between landlord and tenant. On the short let side, a coming register and a new planning use class are changing what it takes to operate at all. Decisions that used to be about yield alone are now about compliance, flexibility and risk as well.
What changed for long lets
The headline is that no fault eviction has gone. Since 1 May 2026, Section 21 no longer exists for assured tenancies, fixed terms are giving way to rolling periodic tenancies, and getting a property back now requires a valid ground and solid paperwork. We wrote about this in more detail in our guide to life after Section 21.
The effect on strategy is real. A long let is now a genuinely long commitment, harder to exit on a whim, and far more dependent on choosing the right tenant and keeping good records. For the right owner that is fine, even welcome. For someone who valued the ability to switch plans quickly, it stings.
What changed for short lets
Short letting has spent the year waiting for a register that has not opened, alongside a planning use class that could make full time short letting need permission in some areas. We covered the detail in our piece on the short let register. The short version is more admin, more visibility, and in some cities a real question over whether you can run a property as a short let at all.
In return, short lets still offer something long lets no longer do quite so easily: flexibility. You can use the property yourself, adjust to the seasons, and you are not locked into a tenancy that is now much harder to end.
The maths is not what it used to be
For years the short let calculation was simple. Higher nightly rates, more work, better return. That still holds in the right location, but the sums now have to carry the cost of compliance, the time of managing turnovers and guests, and the risk that a rule change clips your wings. Long lets, meanwhile, trade a lower headline yield for stability and far less day to day effort, at the price of flexibility you may never get back once a tenant is in.
Neither is simply better. The right answer depends on the property, the location, your appetite for admin, and how much you value being able to change your mind.
It does not have to be all or nothing
The framing of short versus long is a little false, because the interesting options sit in the middle. Medium term lets to relocating professionals, corporate stays, and seasonal switching between models are all live strategies, and each has a different regulatory footprint. The owners doing best right now are the ones who treat the model as a lever to pull rather than a religion to follow.
How we think about it
This is genuinely why our group is built the way it is. Upgraded PM handles the long let world, with the compliance and tenant management the new rules demand. The short stay side, TUA Stays, handles guests and bookings. And the technology underneath, part of the platforms we are building, is designed so a property is not trapped in one model forever. If the maths on a home changes, you should be able to change with it.
That is the real point of a market that moved on both sides at once. The winning move is not picking short or long and hoping the rules hold still. It is staying flexible enough that the next change works for you instead of against you.
This article is general information and not legal advice. It reflects the position as we understand it in July 2026, while several of these rules are still developing. Speak to a qualified professional about your specific property before making a decision.