Is short-term letting worth it — honest income figures for UK landlords
Last updated: July 2026
For most UK landlords currently on a long-term tenancy, short-term letting earns more — often significantly more. Whether it is right for your property depends on your postcode, your property size, and whether a residential mortgage is involved.
This page gives you the honest assessment: bedroom-by-bedroom figures, four UK postcode examples, and the January floor that most income comparisons omit. It also covers the situations where short-term letting is the wrong call.
Every figure below is net after the 15% + VAT management fee. Your specific postcode estimate takes two minutes in the income calculator.
Short-term letting earns more than a long-term tenancy for most UK landlords — but not every property and not in every situation. A typical 2-bed nets £1,814/month short-let versus £1,225 long-let, net of management fees, with a January floor of £1,130. Whether it is worth switching depends on your postcode, property type, and mortgage arrangement. The income calculator below gives net figures for your specific postcode including the quieter months.
Conservative estimate based on enquiry data from 189 comparable UK properties. Net figures reflect management fee. Actual income varies by location, property type and season.
What you could earn by bedroom count — UK conservative averages
The figures below are net after the 15% + VAT management fee at conservative UK occupancy (65–70%). They include the worst month alongside the annual average — because a single-month floor tells you more about downside risk than an annual headline.
| Property size | Monthly average (net) | January floor (net) | August peak (net) | Annual net total | vs long let |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-bedroom | £1,179 | £735 | £1,628 | £14,148 | +48–66% |
| 2-bedroom | £1,814 | £1,130 | £2,505 | £21,768 | +48–66% |
| 3-bedroom | £2,576 | £1,605 | £3,557 | £30,912 | +48–66% |
| 4+ bedroom | £3,356 | £2,091 | £4,634 | £40,272 | +48–66% |
Real income examples across four UK postcodes — net after management fee
The four examples below use verified enquiry data from comparable managed properties in each postcode area, shown net — what the owner receives after the 15% + VAT management fee.
When short-term letting is the wrong call — three situations
Short-term letting earns more in most situations, but the honest answer includes the situations where it does not. Three circumstances where it typically fails financially:
The three factors that put your income above or below the national average
Does location affect what I earn from short-term letting?
Yes — location is the single biggest variable. Properties near hospitals, universities, and city centres typically earn 50–155% more than the long-let equivalent. Leeds generates 155% uplift through year-round professional demand; Devon generates 67% — still strong in absolute terms, but a narrower gap to the long-let alternative. Source basis: Stayful enquiry data, 189 properties, April 2026.
Properties near major employers (hospitals, universities, large offices, distribution hubs), city centres, and transport hubs consistently outperform rural and peripheral suburban properties.
Leeds is an example of high uplift not because of tourism but because of the city’s strong employment base — contractor stays, visiting professionals, and university visitor demand fill properties year-round.
Devon is a lower uplift market not because short-term letting does not work there, but because long-let rents are strong relative to STR income — the absolute STR income is competitive, but the gap to long-let is narrower than in employment-dense cities.
Airbnb search ranking is partly determined by conversion rate — what percentage of people who view a listing go on to book it. Professional photography is the single most impactful improvement to conversion rate.
Stayful includes professional photography for the first shoot within the management arrangement at no additional charge.
A property with good photography, a compelling title, and competitive pricing at launch will build review momentum faster than one launching with smartphone photos, regardless of underlying quality.
Properties with static pricing underperform dynamic pricing by 15–30% on annual income.
The gap comes from two directions: undercharging during peak demand periods when static rates are too low and the property books instantly at a rate that leaves money behind, and failing to fill last-minute gaps with competitive pricing in the week before a date.
Stayful updates rates daily across all managed properties using local demand signals, competitor availability, and booking lead time data — included within the 15% + VAT management fee.
“The income estimate came back at £2,560/month average for a 3-bed. I’d been long-letting for £1,450. I didn’t believe it at first — I thought they were showing me best-case figures. The actual figure in year one was £2,380 average. January was £1,640 — still £190 above my old tenancy. It’s not what I expected.”
Questions landlords ask before they run the numbers
Yes — every figure on this page is net after the 15% + VAT Stayful management fee. The income calculator also returns a net figure. Cleaning is charged to guests at cost and does not reduce your payout.
Yes — you block dates in your owner calendar with no notice required and no approval process. Unlike a long-term tenancy, no guest has exclusive possession of your property at any time. You can block a weekend, a month, or the whole summer if needed.
No — the estimate is a conservative range based on comparable properties in your postcode, not a guaranteed income. No short-let provider can honestly guarantee a fixed monthly figure, and we’d be cautious of any that do.
We show the conservative range and the floor month (January) rather than a best-case headline, because a range you can plan around is more useful than a projection that turns out to be aspirational.
The Stayful contract is rolling monthly — if performance materially undershoots the estimate without a clear seasonal explanation, you can exit without penalty beyond the current booking window.
Every guest provides a £200 security deposit and is ID-verified before arrival. Stayful properties carry £100,000 host damage protection. In the event of a claim, Stayful manages the process — you do not handle guests directly. You are notified of any issue and its outcome.
Onboarding from first call to live listing typically takes 7–14 days. Most properties receive their first booking within 7 days of going live, depending on the season and local demand.
First-month income is typically below the long-run average because the listing has no review history yet — review momentum builds over the first 2–3 months and occupancy typically stabilises by month three.
In most of England, no planning permission is currently required to short-let a residential property. London properties are subject to a 90-night annual limit under permitted development rights.
Some local councils have applied Article 4 Directions removing the permitted development right to change use to short-term letting without explicit permission — check your local authority’s planning portal if you are in a high-demand area. A national STR registration scheme has been announced but is not yet in force.
This is a regulatory area that is changing — confirm the current position in your local area before proceeding.
or run the income estimate — net monthly figures for your postcode in 2 minutes
See what your property could earn — net, including the January floor
Your postcode. Your bedroom count. Net figures, not gross projections. Takes 2 minutes. No obligation to proceed.