The Accommodation Tie Explained: UK Statutory Residence Test
Owning a UK property or staying with family can create an accommodation tie. The 91-day rule, 16-night close relative threshold, and the letting trap explained.
Still own a UK flat? Still stay with your parents when you visit? Either could give you an accommodation tie — and significantly cut your safe day limit. Many people who have left the UK assume their accommodation tie disappears the moment they move abroad. It often doesn't.
The accommodation tie is one of the five UK ties that determine how many days you can spend in the UK without becoming tax resident. It is triggered by two things: a UK property being available to you for a continuous period of 91 days or more in the tax year, and you spending at least one night there. That threshold is lower than most people expect — and staying with close family has its own separate rule.
If you have a UK property, a UK holiday home, or close relatives whose home you stay in when you visit, this article explains exactly when the accommodation tie applies.
Not sure whether you have an accommodation tie? The free SRT questionnaire works through all five ties and gives you a full residence determination in about 10 minutes.
Key points
- The accommodation tie requires a UK property to be available to you for a continuous period of 91 days or more, and you must spend at least one night there
- Hotels and guest houses do not count — only residential accommodation
- If the accommodation is a close relative's home, the threshold is higher: you must spend 16 or more nights there (not just one)
- Short breaks in availability of fewer than 16 days do not interrupt the 91-day continuity period
- Letting your UK property does not automatically remove the tie — the period before the tenancy started may still count
- Multiple UK properties are each assessed independently
What the accommodation tie is
A person has an accommodation tie if they have a place to live in the UK that is available to them for a continuous period of at least 91 days in the tax year, and they spend at least one night there (RFIG20550).
"Place to live" covers a home, holiday home, temporary retreat, or any other accommodation in the UK that the person can live in. It does not include hotels, guest houses, or similar — only residential accommodation qualifies. If you own a UK flat, rent a UK property, or have access to a property in the UK (including through a close relative), that property is in scope.
The key word is "available." The accommodation does not need to be your main home, or even a home you think of as yours. It needs to be a place you have access to and could stay in. Availability — not ownership — is what the rule tests.
The 91-day availability rule
What "continuously available" means
The 91 days must form a continuous period — not cumulative days scattered across the year. A property that is available to you from April through June, then not available for several months, then available again for a few weeks, may not meet the threshold if no single continuous block reaches 91 days.
The 16-day break provision
A short gap in availability does not reset the clock. If the property is unavailable for fewer than 16 days, that break is ignored and the continuous period continues running. This means a property unavailable for two weeks in the middle of a longer period of availability still counts as continuously available across that gap.
In practice, this matters for leavers who own UK property: if your flat is temporarily unavailable during a short gap between tenancies, that gap does not break the 91-day continuity.
What counts as a "place to live" — and what doesn't
| Counts | Does not count |
|---|---|
| UK flat (owned or rented) | Hotel rooms |
| Holiday home | Guest houses |
| Parents' house (if available to you) | Serviced apartments (hotel-style) |
| Temporary retreat / bolt-hole | Hostel accommodation |
The distinction is residential vs. transient. If the accommodation is of a type you could genuinely live in — and it is available to you — it counts.
The one-night rule — and when it doesn't apply
General case: one night is enough
For most UK accommodation, the threshold is low: if the property is available to you for 91+ continuous days and you spend at least one night there during the tax year, you have an accommodation tie. One night is all it takes.
This means a leaver who owns a UK property and visits for a weekend — staying one night — has an accommodation tie, assuming the property was available to them for 91+ days in the year.
Close relative's home: the 16-night threshold
If the accommodation is the home of a close relative, the threshold changes. You must spend at least 16 nights there for the accommodation tie to apply. Fifteen nights or fewer — even if the property was available to you for the entire tax year — means no accommodation tie from that property.
This is the rule most commonly missed. Staying with parents for two weeks when visiting the UK does not, by itself, create an accommodation tie. Staying for three weeks does.
Who counts as a close relative
Close relatives are: parent, grandparent, sibling, adult child (18 or over). This includes relatives through marriage or civil partnership, and adopted children are treated the same as biological children.
Worked example: Claire and her parents' home in Edinburgh
Claire moved to Australia in April 2024. Her parents own a four-bedroom house in Edinburgh that is available to her whenever she visits. The house is available all year.
In 2024–25, Claire returns to the UK twice and stays at her parents' house for 12 nights in total.
Result: Claire does not have an accommodation tie from the parental home. 12 nights is fewer than the 16-night threshold for a close relative's home. She is below the limit.
If Claire extended her next visit and the total nights at her parents' house reached 18 nights in the year, the accommodation tie would apply — the house was available 91+ days and she spent 16+ nights there.
The letting trap
Does letting your property remove the tie?
Many leavers who rent out their UK home assume this removes the accommodation tie. It may not.
The accommodation tie is assessed based on when a property is available to you during the tax year — not on whether tenants are in it at some point. If you owned and lived in a UK flat for the first three months of the tax year (April to June), stayed there overnight, and then let it out from July, that three-month period of availability still counts. The property was available for 91+ continuous days and you spent at least one night there. The tie exists for that tax year.
The position becomes cleaner if a tenancy runs from the very start of the tax year (6 April) with no prior period of personal availability — in that scenario, you may not have had the accommodation available to you at all during the year. But partial-year letting with personal availability at the start is the most common situation — and the trap most people fall into.
Worked example: Marcus and his London flat
Marcus left the UK in June 2024. He owns a two-bedroom flat in London. From 6 April 2024 until the tenancy started on 1 August 2024, the flat was empty and available to Marcus. He stayed in it for 3 nights in May 2024.
The flat was available to Marcus from 6 April to 31 July — 117 continuous days, well above the 91-day threshold. He spent at least one night there.
Result: Marcus has an accommodation tie for 2024–25. The tenancy that started in August does not undo the availability in the earlier part of the year.
If Marcus had moved straight from his previous address into a commercial tenancy from 6 April — with the flat already let and not available to him at any point in 2024–25 — the position would be different. The property would not have been "available to him" during the year.
Multiple properties
Each UK property is assessed independently under the accommodation tie. You either have the tie or you don't — it is binary. But the assessment runs separately for each property, and any one of them triggering the conditions gives you the tie.
Worked example: Rachel with two UK properties
Rachel left the UK in 2023. She owns a cottage in Cornwall — available to her all year — where she spends 4 nights in 2024–25. Her mother's house in Manchester is also available to her all year, and she stays there for 20 nights in 2024–25.
Result: Rachel has an accommodation tie from both properties assessed independently:
- Cornwall cottage: owned by Rachel, available 91+ days, 1+ nights spent there → tie applies under the general rule
- Mother's house: close relative's home, available 91+ days, 20 nights spent there → tie applies under the 16-night close relative rule
The result is the same — one accommodation tie — but both routes lead to it. If Rachel had only the cottage and spent 4 nights there, she would still have the tie. If she had only the mother's house and stayed 12 nights, she would not.
How the accommodation tie affects your day limit
The accommodation tie is one of up to five ties assessed under the sufficient ties test. Your day limit falls as your tie count rises. For leavers (Table A):
| UK days in the tax year | Ties needed to be UK resident |
|---|---|
| 16–45 | 4 or more |
| 46–90 | 3 or more |
| 91–120 | 2 or more |
| 121–182 | 1 or more |
A leaver with just the accommodation tie — no other ties — can spend up to 90 UK days before becoming resident. Add a second tie (family, work, or 90-day) and the limit drops to 45 days. The accommodation tie is often the first tie a recent leaver acquires, and it directly interacts with any other ties they hold.
For the full picture of how tie counts and day counts combine, see the day limits reference table or the article on how many days in the UK before becoming tax resident. If you want to track your remaining UK days in real time against your threshold, the Day Budget Dashboard updates as you log visits.
Common questions
Does a hotel stay count as accommodation for this tie?
No. Hotels, guest houses, and similar transient accommodation do not count as a "place to live" for the accommodation tie. Only residential accommodation — properties you could genuinely live in — is in scope. Staying in hotels during UK visits does not create or contribute to an accommodation tie.
I own a UK property but haven't visited at all this year — do I have a tie?
No. The accommodation tie requires both availability (91+ continuous days) and at least one overnight stay (or 16 nights for a close relative's home). If you have not spent a single night in the UK during the tax year, the accommodation tie cannot apply, regardless of what UK properties you own or have access to.
My parents live in the UK — does that automatically create a tie?
Not automatically. The parental home creates a tie only if: (a) it is available to you for 91+ continuous days, and (b) you spend 16 or more nights there in the tax year. If you visit the UK and stay with your parents for fewer than 16 nights, no accommodation tie arises from that property.
Can I remove the accommodation tie during the year?
You can reduce or eliminate availability. If you formally let a property at arm's length with no right of personal use, it ceases to be available to you from the start of that tenancy. But availability that already existed in the current tax year — and where you have already stayed overnight — has already triggered the tie for that year. You can manage your position for future tax years by ensuring no qualifying availability exists from the start of the year.
What if I share a UK property with someone else?
Each person is assessed individually. If you have the right to use a UK property (even if others also use it), it is available to you. Shared ownership or shared access does not dilute the test — if it is available to you and you spend at least one night (or 16 nights for a close relative's home), you have the tie.
Does a UK property I own but don't intend to return to create a tie?
Intent is irrelevant — the test is availability and overnight stays. If the property is available to you for 91+ days and you spend at least one night there, the tie applies regardless of your long-term intentions for the property.
Apply the accommodation tie rules — and all other ties — to your specific situation using the free SRT questionnaire. It identifies which ties apply, counts your UK days, and gives a full residence determination referencing the HMRC rules at each step. No account required.
This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute tax advice. For complex situations, particularly around letting arrangements and partial-year availability, professional advice from a qualified tax adviser is recommended.
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