What is the 90-day rule for Airbnb?
The "90-day rule" refers to a common type of short-term rental regulation that caps the number of nights a property can be rented to guests each calendar year. While the exact number varies by city (London uses 90 days, Amsterdam dropped to 30, and Paris allows 120), the concept is the same: limit how much of the year a home can operate as a de facto hotel.
Why cities adopt these caps. The primary motivation is housing preservation. Regulators observed that without any limit, property owners were permanently removing homes from the long-term rental market to operate them as full-time short-term rentals. Day caps force hosts to choose: either live in the property most of the year and rent it occasionally, or obtain a commercial hospitality license and comply with the associated taxes, safety standards, and zoning requirements.
How enforcement works. Platforms like Airbnb have agreed to cooperate with day-cap enforcement in several major cities. In London, for example, Airbnb automatically blocks bookings for a listing once it reaches 90 cumulative nights in a calendar year, unless the host has uploaded proof of planning permission for short-term use. Other cities rely on self-reporting, audits, or neighbor complaints to identify violations.
Limitations of the rule. Day caps are not airtight. Some hosts circumvent them by listing on multiple platforms simultaneously, making it difficult for any single platform to track the total. Others simply ignore the limit and hope they are not caught. In practice, enforcement is inconsistent, and some hosts ignore the limit for years without consequence. Enforcement resources vary widely between cities, and in many places the rules exist on paper but are rarely applied.
If you live in a city with a day cap and suspect a nearby property is exceeding it, documenting the activity is the right first step. A BnBDetector report shows the overall level of short-term rental activity in your building, giving you concrete context when reporting potential violations to local authorities.