Short term let vs long term tenancy: what actually lands in your bank account

We run the real numbers on a Chester two-bed - gross income, running costs, void weeks and the bit most spreadsheets forget.

Every landlord we meet asks the same question in the first five minutes: is a short term let genuinely worth the extra moving parts? Fair question. An assured shorthold tenancy is boring in the best possible way - one tenant, one standing order, one inspection every six months. A short let is a small hospitality business bolted onto your asset.

So let's stop talking in vibes and look at a real shape of numbers. Take a well-presented two-bed apartment inside the Chester walls. On a standard tenancy it lets for roughly £1,050 a month. That's £12,600 a year gross, minus agency fees, minus a void, minus the repairs you get billed for anyway. Call it £11,000 landing in your account on a decent year.

The short let version of the same flat

The same apartment, professionally photographed and dynamically priced, sits at an average nightly rate of around £120 with roughly 70% occupancy across the year. That's about £30,600 gross. Nobody keeps all of that - cleaning, linen, consumables, utilities, insurance and management all come out of it. But even after a realistic operating load, the net regularly lands well ahead of the tenancy figure.

• Higher gross income, especially in event weeks, race weeks and school holidays
• You keep access to your own property for family, works or a sale
• Damage is caught within 24 hours rather than 24 months
• No Section 21 anxiety, because there is no tenancy to end

Where short lets genuinely lose

We'd rather be honest than salesy. Short lets are worse than tenancies when your property is remote from any demand driver, when the building's lease or freeholder forbids it, or when a lender covenant makes it a non-starter. They're also worse if your plan is to self-manage half-heartedly around a full-time job - a listing with slow replies and average photos slides down the rankings quickly, and once occupancy drops the maths flips.

The bit most spreadsheets forget

Seasonality. A Chester or Manchester apartment does not earn one-twelfth of its annual income each month. January and February are quiet, and December is a strange mix of dead weekdays and premium party weekends. Judge a short let on trailing twelve months, never on a single month, and always keep a small float for the winter dip.

The other forgotten factor is your own time. Guest messaging, mid-stay issues, cleaner rotas and pricing reviews are not a Sunday-evening hobby. Either you enjoy that work, or you pay someone whose whole job it is. That's the honest choice - not short let versus tenancy, but managed short let versus a second job.

How to decide in a week

Get an income estimate based on comparable properties within a few streets of yours, check your lease and mortgage terms, then compare the net figure against your current rent minus your current hassle. If the gap is small, stay with the tenancy. If it's the 30-50% we typically see on well-located North West stock, the decision makes itself.