Holiday letting in Dorset

Dorset sells landscape and heritage in equal measure. The Jurassic Coast runs from Lyme Regis and Charmouth, famous for fossils, past West Bay and Chesil Beach to Weymouth, Lulworth Cove and the Isle of Purbeck around Swanage and Studland. Inland, market towns such as Bridport, Sherborne and Dorchester attract food lovers and walkers. Family cottages near the beaches fill in summer; smaller characterful houses in the towns do well the rest of the year.

The regulatory baseline

No licence is needed to let a home short term in England, and outside London there is no cap on nights. That will change in form, if not yet in substance: the government has said a national register should be fully operational by March 2027. Planning law already applies. Dorset Council can decide that a home let intensively has undergone a material change of use, and properties in conservation areas or within the protected coastal landscape attract more attention. Always ask for the planning history, especially for converted barns or annexes.

What a second home now costs

Since 1 April 2025 Dorset Council charges a 100% premium on second homes, twice the normal bill. There are exceptions, for example homes restricted by planning to seasonal use. The main alternative is business rates: a property available for letting for 140 nights and actually let for 70 in a 12-month period is treated as a business. Many owners have reorganised their calendars around those figures. On the income tax side, the furnished holiday lettings regime ended in April 2025; letting profits follow the ordinary property income rules.

Our Dorset checklist

• Price summer firmly, then work hard on spring and autumn walking and fossil-hunting breaks.
• Parking is gold near the coast: say clearly what you offer.
• Keep a fire risk assessment and gas and electrical certificates ready for registration.
• Check leases and mortgage terms before your first booking.

Tell us about your Dorset home. We study every request and tell you honestly whether and how we can help.

Arches, castles, a steam railway and a council boundary

The photographs that sell Dorset are often of Durdle Door, the limestone arch west of Lulworth, and Corfe Castle, whose ruins overlook a village served by the Swanage steam railway. Portland, joined to Weymouth by a causeway, hosted the sailing events of the 2012 Olympics and still attracts dinghy sailors, climbers and divers. Abbotsbury's swannery and subtropical gardens fill a gentle day for families.

Inland Dorset has distinctive draws:

• Thomas Hardy's country, with his birthplace cottage and Max Gate near Dorchester.
• The Tank Museum at Bovington, and the Monkey World rescue centre nearby, both popular with families.
• The Cerne Abbas giant, cut into the chalk above the village.

A boundary worth knowing: Poole, Bournemouth and Christchurch are not in Dorset Council's area; they form a separate unitary authority. Sandbanks, Poole Harbour and Brownsea Island, with its red squirrels, bring guests who might stay in Purbeck, but council tax, planning and any future scheme will be handled by a different council depending on the address.

Another caution concerns walkers: the army's Lulworth ranges close the coastal path between Lulworth and Kimmeridge on many weekdays, generally opening at weekends and in school holidays. A property near Tyneham or Kimmeridge should tell guests when the paths are open before they plan their walks.