General information, not tax advice. Covers England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Checked October 2026.
A holiday let stays on business rates only while it passes a letting test, and the test is different in each nation: 70 let nights in England and Scotland, 182 in Wales. Miss it and the property moves to council tax, which in Wales can mean a second-home premium. The holiday let business rates tracker shows where you stand part-way through the year, while there is still time to fill the gap.
How to use the business rates tracker
- Choose the nation your holiday let is in, and check the start date of the 12 months you're tracking.
- Enter the nights let so far and the nights already booked for the rest of the 12 months, from your booking calendar.
- Add any nights blocked for your own use, repairs or a seasonal closure, both so far and ahead.
- Read the answer, and come back each month or two to update the numbers.
See whether your holiday let is on track for the letting test
A worked example
Say your holiday let is in England and you're tracking the 12 months from 1 April. By early October it has been let for 38 nights, with 10 more booked over the winter, and you plan to block a week at Christmas for family.
That's 48 nights let or booked against the 70-night test, so the tracker shows 22 more nights needed by 31 March, about 4 a month. You've been letting around 6 nights a month so far, so the let is on track as long as winter bookings keep coming. The week at Christmas still leaves it well over the 140 nights it has to be available for.
The letting test in each nation
| Nation | Available to let | Let to guests | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| England | 140 nights | 70 nights | The last 12 months, and you plan 140 nights in the next 12 |
| Wales | 252 nights | 182 nights | The last 12 months, and you plan 252 nights in the next 12 |
| Scotland | 140 nights | 70 nights | The financial year, 1 April to 31 March |
| Northern Ireland | 140 days | No test | The year ahead |
The figures come from GOV.UK's guidance for self-catering properties for England and Wales, the Scottish Assessors for Scotland, and the Rates (Northern Ireland) Order 1977. In Wales, the government is consulting until 23 October 2026 on whether to lower the 182-night test from 1 April 2027.
What counts as a let night
Only commercial lets count, and in England and Wales the test is about short lets of 28 nights or less. A free week for friends or family isn't a let night, and Scottish Assessors say so in terms. Nights you keep for yourself count against availability too, which is why the tracker asks for blocked nights as well as bookings.
Wales has two extras from April 2026. Up to 14 nights a year donated to a registered charity count towards both tests, and if the let falls short of 182 nights in the latest 12 months, you can use the average over the previous 24 or 36 months instead.
Keeping the evidence as you go
In England and Wales you get a form each year to confirm the let still meets the test. In Scotland the Assessor can ask for evidence for each financial year: booking calendars showing the nights available, where the let is advertised, and records of each booking with its dates and the income received. Keeping those records from the start of the year makes the form a five-minute job; a bookkeeping system for holiday lets that survives tax season sets out a booking ledger that already holds them.
What the tracker leaves out
The tracker counts nights; it doesn't work out your rates bill, small business rate relief or council tax. It can't tell whether a booking will cancel, so treat bookings ahead as likely rather than certain. Nothing you enter is saved or sent anywhere, so copy or print the result before you close the page.
Filling the gap before the year ends
If the tracker shows the let behind, the quickest fixes are opening blocked dates, shortening the minimum stay in quiet months and pricing the gaps to fill. Furnished holiday let tax basics explains how the end of the furnished holiday let tax rules changed what you still need to track, and holiday let registration and licensing in each UK nation covers the other local rules that sit alongside rates.