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A mid-term let is a furnished home let for roughly one to six months, usually to someone working, relocating or between homes. It sits between a holiday let and an ordinary tenancy, and it works well for owners who want income outside the summer with fewer changeovers. The risks are legal and tax: a guest who makes the property their only or main home can become an assured tenant, and stays longer than 28 nights do not count towards the business rates letting test.
This guide is general information about England, correct as of 1 October 2026. It is not legal advice. The law on longer stays changed on 1 May 2026, and you should take advice from a solicitor on your own agreements.
Who books a mid-term let
Mid-term guests are people with a reason to be in a place for a while, and somewhere else they call home:
- Contractors on construction, engineering and infrastructure jobs, often booked by the employer.
- NHS and agency staff on placements and locum contracts. Around Bournemouth that means the Royal Bournemouth and Poole hospitals.
- Relocations. People who have started a job and need somewhere while they find a home.
- Insurance and displacement stays. Households whose home is being repaired after a flood, fire or escape of water, booked through an insurer or claims agent.
- University staff and visiting families, around Bournemouth University and Arts University Bournemouth.
- Remote workers who want a month or two somewhere new.
They want a furnished home with bills included, fast wifi, a place to work, a washing machine and parking. They book on platforms built for longer stays, through employers and insurers, and sometimes on Airbnb or Booking.com.
Licence or tenancy: the question that matters
Everything turns on what the guest is using the property for.
A holiday is not a tenancy. Schedule 1 to the Housing Act 1988 says a letting whose purpose is to give the occupier the right to occupy for a holiday cannot be an assured tenancy. Holiday lets rely on that exclusion.
A work stay is not a holiday. A contractor's three-month booking is not for a holiday, so the holiday exclusion does not help. Whether that stay is a tenancy then depends on the facts: what was agreed, whether the guest has exclusive possession and, for an assured tenancy, whether the property is the guest's only or main home. A guest who keeps a home elsewhere and is here for a job or while their house is repaired is in a different position from someone who has nowhere else to live.
Labels do not decide it. Calling an agreement a licence, or a booking, does not stop it being a tenancy if the substance is a tenancy.
What changed on 1 May 2026. Under the Renters' Rights Act, GOV.UK says new assured tenancies in England are assured periodic tenancies that run on a rolling basis, and it is no longer possible to have an assured tenancy with an end date. Section 21 no-fault possession has gone, and a landlord needs a statutory ground under section 8. In plain terms: if a mid-term stay turns out to be an assured tenancy, you cannot rely on the end date you agreed, and getting the property back for summer is no longer a matter of the calendar.
That is why the purpose of each stay must be checked before it is accepted. Ask who is staying, why, for how long and where their main home is, keep the answer on file, and use an agreement written for that kind of stay. The holiday let vs serviced accommodation guide covers the same risk from the serviced apartment side.
The 28-night line and business rates
GOV.UK says self-catering property in England is assessed for business rates, rather than council tax, only if it is let commercially for short periods of 28 nights or less, was available for at least 140 nights and actually let for at least 70 nights in the last 12 months, and will be available for at least 140 nights in the next 12.
So a 90-night stay adds nothing to the 70 let nights. A property let to one guest from October to March may still pass the test on its summer bookings alone, but one let mostly on long stays may not. If it fails, it goes on council tax, and BCP Council charges a 100% premium on furnished second homes. Keep a log of nights available and nights let in short periods, and plan the long stays around it.
Deposits, bills and council tax
Deposits. If a stay is an assured tenancy, GOV.UK says the deposit must be protected in a government-approved scheme within 30 days, and the Tenant Fees Act 2019 limits the payments a landlord can take, including a cap on the deposit. If the stay is not a tenancy, there is no scheme duty. Platforms usually handle damage under their own terms, and a direct booking can take a security deposit under a clear written agreement.
Bills. Mid-term guests expect an all-inclusive price: heating, power, water, wifi and council tax. Price in a fair-use allowance for heating in winter and say in the agreement what happens if use is far above normal.
Council tax. GOV.UK says council tax is usually paid by the resident whose only or main home the property is. While the guest has a main home elsewhere, the owner normally remains liable, with the second homes premium in BCP if the property is not on business rates. If a guest does make it their main home, liability may change, which is also a sign that the stay may be a tenancy. Check your case with the council.
Tax on the income. Since the furnished holiday lettings regime was abolished from April 2025, income from short and mid-term stays is taxed as ordinary property income. See holiday let tax after the FHL regime.
Combining mid-term lets with summer holiday lets
On the Dorset coast the common pattern is summer holiday lets from Easter to September, with mid-term stays from autumn to spring. To make it work:
- Set the end date before you accept. A stay starting in November ends before Easter or the February half term, whichever you want to sell.
- Check the purpose of every stay over 28 nights, and use the right agreement.
- Keep enough short lets in the year to pass the 70-night business rates test.
- List on the right channels. Flexiestays, the group's own platform, is Bournemouth's number one platform for winter and long stays and charges only 8% on the bookings it brings. Our Flexiestays page explains it.
- Plan a mid-stay clean for anything over two weeks. Fewer changeovers mean lower costs and less wear, but a month without a clean is not.
The winter guide covers pricing and channels for the November to March season.
How Sea Breeze runs mid-term lets
We manage short, mid-term and long stays and choose the mix for each property and season. For mid-term stays we list every property on Flexiestays as well as on Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo and 20+ channels, set weekly and monthly rates, ask the purpose of each long stay and use the right agreement for the stay, and agree every end date against your summer calendar. See mid-term let management and winter let management.
Commission is a flat 16% of booking revenue, with no retainer and no monthly fee. Cleaning, linen and repairs are paid directly to the local companies we recommend, or your own. For local detail, see our pages for short let management in Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch.
