APT Kills Fixed-Term Corporate Lets: Why Mid-Term Rentals Give London Landlords More Control

The Government Just Rewrote the Rules for London Landlords

If you've been letting a furnished flat to corporate tenants on a tidy 6 or 12 month fixed term, you need to sit up and take notice. The government's own Housing Hub is now actively telling tenants that under the new Assured Periodic Tenancy (APT) framework, rolling tenancies mean they can leave with just two months' notice at any time. There is no fixed end date. There is no agreed rental term. The tenant holds the exit card, and they know it.

For thousands of London landlords who built a profitable model around furnished corporate lets, this is a seismic shift. You can no longer lock in a six month agreement, recoup your furnishing and marketing costs, and rely on a predictable income window. The economics of that model have been fundamentally broken.

But here's the good news: there is a category of rental that operates entirely outside the AST and APT framework, one that gives you uncapped pricing, full tenant control, and none of the regulatory headaches that now plague the traditional private rented sector.

Welcome to mid-term rentals.

What Exactly Are Mid-Term Rentals?

Mid-term rentals sit in the sweet spot between short-term holiday lets and traditional long-term tenancies. They typically run from one month to six months, and they serve a very specific type of guest: relocation tenants moving to London for work, contractors on fixed projects, insurance housing guests displaced by floods or fires, and professionals on secondment.

Crucially, these arrangements are structured as licence agreements or company lets rather than assured tenancies. That single distinction changes everything. Because they fall outside the APT framework, you retain the ability to set a fixed term, agree a departure date, and price your property at whatever the market will bear.

For a well-located, nicely furnished London flat, that often means achieving 20–40% more than a traditional long-term let would generate.

Why the APT Change Makes Mid-Term Rentals So Attractive Right Now

Let's be honest about what the APT conversion has done to the corporate let model.

Previously, you could furnish a property to a high standard, market it on platforms like SpareRoom or corporate housing sites, and sign a tenant to a fixed six month term. You knew your income for that period. You could plan your cash flow. The tenant committed, you committed, and both sides had certainty.

Under an APT, your tenant can hand in two months' notice on day one. That means you could spend thousands furnishing and staging a flat, find a corporate tenant, and then watch them leave after eight weeks with no obligation to see out the term you thought you'd agreed.

The maths simply doesn't work any more.

Mid-term rentals solve this problem because the contractual structure is different. A company booking a flat for a relocating employee signs a licence agreement with fixed dates. An insurance company placing a displaced family commits to a set period tied to the claim. These are commercial arrangements, not tenancies governed by housing legislation.

That means you keep control of your property, your pricing, and your timeline.

How the Mid-Term Rental Model Works in Practice

Finding the Right Tenants

The demand pool for mid-term rentals in London is enormous. Relocation agents place hundreds of professionals every month. Insurance companies need furnished accommodation at short notice. Government departments, NHS trusts, and construction firms all require temporary housing for staff.

The key is positioning your property correctly. Professional photography, a clear listing with flexible check-in dates, and presence on platforms like Booking.com, Airbnb (for monthly stays), and specialist corporate housing sites all help.

Pricing and Revenue

Because you are offering a fully furnished, bills-included package with flexibility, you can price significantly above the local AST market. A two bedroom flat in Zone 2 that might achieve £2,200 per month on a long-term tenancy could generate £3,200 to £4,000 per month as a mid-term rental, depending on location and quality.

The Operational Reality

Here's where things get honest. Mid-term rentals are operationally more demanding than a traditional buy-to-let. You need to manage changeovers, handle utility accounts, maintain furnishings, respond to guest queries, coordinate with booking platforms, and keep occupancy rates high enough to justify the model.

You also need to stay on top of licensing requirements. Some London boroughs require registration for properties let for periods under 90 days, and while mid-term lets of 30 days or more avoid most short-term let restrictions, the regulatory picture varies by borough.

This operational complexity is the main pitfall landlords encounter. The revenue is excellent, but only if you can maintain consistently high occupancy and deliver a professional guest experience. Gaps between bookings, slow responses to enquiries, or poorly maintained properties can quickly erode those premium returns.

When Mid-Term Becomes Short-Term: The Real Sweet Spot

Many landlords who explore mid-term rentals quickly realise something interesting. If you're already furnishing a property to a high standard, managing changeovers, and listing on platforms like Airbnb and Booking.com, you're only a small step away from running a full short-term let operation.

And that's where the economics get really compelling.

Short-term lets in London, properly managed, can generate two to three times what a traditional tenancy produces. They offer complete flexibility over pricing, with the ability to adjust nightly rates for peak seasons, events, and demand surges. They give you full control over who stays in your property and for how long. And they operate entirely outside the APT framework.

The catch, of course, is that managing a short-term let is a serious operational undertaking. Guest communications, cleaning coordination, dynamic pricing, listing optimisation, key exchanges, maintenance, compliance: it's a business, not a passive investment.

Unless someone else handles all of it for you.

Why London Landlords Are Turning to Professional Management

This is exactly where a company like Airhosts comes in. Rather than trying to juggle the complexity of mid-term and short-term lets yourself, Airhosts manages the entire operation on your behalf. From professional photography and listing creation to guest screening, 24/7 communication, cleaning, maintenance, dynamic pricing, and regulatory compliance, every detail is handled.

The result is genuinely hands-off income at premium rates. You keep the pricing power and tenant control that the APT has stripped from the traditional PRS, without any of the day-to-day operational burden.

For landlords currently watching their corporate let model collapse under the new tenancy rules, this is the clearest path forward. You don't need to become a hospitality expert. You just need the right management partner.

Your Property, Your Returns, Zero Hassle

The APT conversion has permanently changed the game for London landlords. Fixed-term corporate lets are no longer viable in the way they once were, and pretending otherwise will cost you money. Mid-term rentals offer a genuine alternative with strong returns and real tenant control, but they come with operational demands that can quickly become overwhelming.

Professionally managed short-term lets combine the best of every approach: uncapped pricing, complete flexibility, full property control, and income that consistently outperforms the traditional rental market.

If you're a London landlord looking to protect your returns and future-proof your investment, talk to Airhosts. Get a free property assessment, find out what your home could earn, and let a team that manages properties across London take the complexity off your hands. Your property deserves better than a broken tenancy model. So do you.