If you’ve been researching serviced accommodation or short-term lets, you may have come across the “90-day rule” and wondered whether it limits how long you can book somewhere like Sanderling Chase. The short answer: no, it doesn’t. It’s currently a UK planning rule specific to London, and it has no bearing on bookings in Scarborough.

Here’s what the rule actually is, and what it means (and doesn’t mean) for a booking here.

What is the 90-day rule?

The 90-day rule is a UK planning rule specific to London, originally set out in the Greater London Council (General Powers) Act 1973, later amended by the Deregulation Act 2015. It limits any residential property within Greater London to a maximum of 90 nights of short-term letting per calendar year. Beyond that, the property owner needs planning permission for a change of use, since letting a home out commercially for more than 90 nights a year is treated differently to normal residential use under London’s planning rules.

This is purely a UK matter, and only covers Greater London specifically. Other countries have their own, entirely separate rules on short-term letting, which this doesn’t cover.

Platforms like Airbnb enforce this automatically for London listings, capping bookings once a host reaches the 90-night limit for the year.

Does it apply outside London?

No. The 90-day rule is specific to Greater London boroughs under that particular piece of legislation. It doesn’t apply to Scarborough, or anywhere else in North Yorkshire. Different councils can have their own local planning policies on holiday lets, so it’s not that there’s zero regulation anywhere outside London, but the specific “90-day rule” as commonly referred to is a London rule, not a national one.

What does this mean for a booking at Sanderling Chase?

Because Scarborough isn’t subject to London’s 90-day cap, there’s no equivalent regulatory ceiling on how long a stay here can run. Bookings can extend from a few nights to several months, depending on what you need, whether that’s an insurance claim with an uncertain repair timeline, a contractor placement that runs longer than expected, or an extended locum placement.

Long-stay direct booking discounts are available for stays of 28 nights or more, and if your dates need to shift partway through a stay, we’ll do what we can to extend or adjust it, working with our management partner Host & Stay to check availability.

What Sanderling Chase offers for longer stays

Sanderling Chase is a professionally managed two-bedroom apartment in Scarborough, with its own standalone entrance and a proper kitchen, suited to stays of any length without the booking friction that can come with short-term-let regulation elsewhere in the country.

More detail on rates for longer bookings is available on our Extended Stay Rates page.

This information is accurate as of August 2026. Regulations in this area can change, so if you’re reading this some time later, it’s worth checking current rules directly with your local planning authority. This article is general information, not legal or planning advice.