1. What rent to serviced accommodation is

Rent to serviced accommodation is a way to run short lets without owning property. You agree a long-term rent with a landlord, furnish the property, and let it by the night to contractors, business travellers, families and tourists.

The landlord gets a fixed rent every month, whatever the occupancy. You take on the risk and keep the margin between that rent plus running costs and what guests pay.

It is different from rent to rent for HMOs, where rooms are let to longer-term sharers. Serviced accommodation is let as a whole unit, for nights or weeks. Our guide to serviced accommodation covers what counts as serviced accommodation and who stays in it.

2. How an R2SA deal is structured

Many R2SA deals are company lets. Your limited company rents the property from the landlord for a fixed term of several years, with permission written into the agreement to let it on short stays.

2.1 Why a company let

Under section 1 of the Housing Act 1988, a tenancy is only an assured tenancy if the tenant is an individual who lives in the property as their only or main home. A company cannot meet either test, so a company let sits outside the assured tenancy rules.

That matters more since the Renters' Rights Act came into force on 1 May 2026 and ended assured shorthold tenancies. Our guide to the Renters' Rights Act covers what changed for ordinary residential lets.

2.2 What the agreement should cover

The agreement should state the rent, the term and any break clause, who pays which bills, who handles repairs, and an explicit right to let on short stays. It should also cover what happens if the landlord sells. Our guide to rent to rent contracts goes through the clauses in detail.

3. The consents you need before the first booking

Get each of these in writing before you furnish anything.

3.1 The landlord and their lender

The landlord must agree to short-stay letting, not just to a company let. If the property is mortgaged, the landlord also needs their lender's consent, because buy-to-let mortgage terms can restrict short lets.

3.2 The lease, for flats

Most flats are leasehold, and the lease can restrict how the flat is used. A clause limiting use to a private residence has been held to rule out short lets of days and weeks. Our guide to freeholder responsibilities explains the case and what to check.

3.3 Planning

In Greater London, a whole home can be let short term for up to 90 nights a calendar year without planning permission. Our London 90-day rule guide explains how the nights are counted. Outside London, councils can use Article 4 directions to require permission, and the proposed C5 use class is not law. Our guide to short-let planning permission sets out where things stand.

3.4 Insurance and fire safety

Standard landlord insurance may not cover paying guests, so check for a policy written for short lets. Fire safety rules also apply once you take paying guests, which our guide to holiday let fire regulations covers.

4. Council tax or business rates

In England, GOV.UK guidance says a property is valued for business rates as self-catering accommodation if all of these apply:

• it is let commercially for short periods of 28 nights or less
• it was available to let for at least 140 nights in the last 12 months
• it was actually let for at least 70 nights in the last 12 months
• you plan to make it available for at least 140 nights in the next 12 months.

If it does not meet those tests, council tax applies. Wales uses higher thresholds, and Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own rules.

Your agreement with the landlord should say who pays, and who applies to the Valuation Office if the property qualifies.

5. Running the numbers on an R2SA deal

An R2SA deal works when nightly income, after the variable costs of each stay, covers the fixed monthly costs with room to spare. Work it out before you sign, not after.

Fixed monthly costs

Rent to the landlord, utilities and broadband, council tax or business rates, insurance, software and subscriptions, and the furnishing cost spread over the term of the agreement.

Costs per stay

Platform commission, cleaning, laundry and linen, guest supplies, and payment fees.

Your break-even

Divide the fixed monthly costs by what each night earns after its own costs. That gives the number of nights a month you need just to break even. Compare it with realistic occupancy for the area, including the quiet months, not the summer peak.

If the break-even needs most of the month booked, the deal is fragile. A void month, a rule change or a landlord sale can wipe out a year of margin.

The rent to rent vs partnership calculator runs these numbers side by side with a management model.

6. Starting a serviced accommodation business

Treat it as a business from day one. The steps most operators follow:

• Pick an area with year-round demand, such as hospitals, large employers, universities or construction projects, not just summer tourists.
• Set up a limited company and get advice on tax and VAT before you trade.
• Find landlords through letting agents, direct approaches and landlords whose properties sit empty between tenancies.
• Agree the terms in writing, with every consent in place before you furnish.
• Furnish and list across booking platforms, and build direct and corporate bookings over time.
• Build the operation: cleaning, linen, guest messaging, pricing and maintenance.

Paid R2SA courses are common. None of them are required, and the legal points above matter more than any template.

7. The risks of rent to serviced accommodation

You carry the rent whether guests book or not. That is the main risk, and it never goes away.

Other risks include a landlord who sells or ends the agreement at a break clause, a lender or freeholder who objects later, planning enforcement, and new regulation. England's national short-term let register is not live yet, and the government has said it will be fully running by March 2027. Our guide to rent to rent risks covers the legal side in more depth.

8. R2SA or managing for owners

R2SA is one way to run short lets without owning property. The other is to manage homes for owners on commission, with no rent to cover in a quiet month.

The trade-off is simple. R2SA keeps more of each booking when occupancy is strong and costs you when it is weak. Management earns a share of every booking and never pays rent on an empty property.

Our comparison of rent to rent and the Houst partnership goes through both models. If you want to build a management business, see how a Houst partnership works in the UK.

This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice. Speak to a qualified adviser about your situation.