The Shift to Flexi-Living: Why UK Professionals are Choosing Temporary Stays Over Long Leases

Forbes Advisor sent out a poll in 2025, and of the 1100 people who responded, 63% worked remotely either full-time or with some office presence requirement. And according to another bit of research from Finder.com from December 2025, 2 in 5 UK adults (41%) work from home at least sometimes.

Yes, it's true that the work-from-home era of the pandemic and post-pandemic has moved more to a hybrid working culture, with many cultures allowing employees to work from home some of the week, flexible work and flexible living are still massive trends.

And you're lying if you say working from home with an occasional office presence isn't amazing. Some people are taking the definition of flexi-living to a new level and using it as an opportunity to embrace the UK nomad life. Read on to find out how.

The Flexi-Living Lifestyle

The flexi-living lifestyle isn't suitable for everyone. If you've got two kids and a dog at home that need walking (the dog, not the kids), then maybe the ship has sailed.

But there's a select group of lucky devils who are using their work-from-home privilege and enjoying the luxury of living life in different areas of the UK - maybe a few months in a vibrant city centre like Manchester before moving on to a relaxed coastal setting like Cornwall.

What's even better is that instead of signing restrictive, long-term tenancy agreements that limit geographic freedom, flexible professionals are taking advantage of fully-furnished short term rentals to test-drive new cities, using Cozycozy to instantly compare aggregate pricing across all major booking networks to find the most economical accommodation.

The Work From Anywhere Movement

Many companies, especially ones with a Gen Z-focused mindset and younger, have adopted a work-from-anywhere culture. A study, again from Forbes, found employees with a work-from-anywhere contract are 20% happier, and we can totally understand why.

There's no dragging yourself to the office every day, putting in effort to be social and interactive when it's grey, raining, and you just want to stay in your dressing gown.

And there's the freedom to build a healthy work schedule, even if that is waking up at 8 am, having a coffee, having a wash and putting on something comfy, and sitting at your home office desk. Yes, your bed might be whispering sweet nothings in your ear all day, calling you for a nap, but nobody can deny that a relaxed approach to the working environment is so much better.

Yes, there's the argument of who's more productive, office workers or work from homers (mainly from the evil overlord bosses), but a study from Work Time found 77% of remote employees report being more productive than in the office.

The Benefit of Temporary Stays Over Long Leases

For remote work in the UK and that digital nomad lifestyle, but UK edition, it makes so much sense to enjoy living in an area for a month or two and then moving on to the next. For us, the main benefits of temporary stays are:

• Renting in England is astronomically expensive, but short-term stays in affordable accommodation aren't.
• Long leases are increasingly difficult to secure, with the UK rental market being one big competition of who can put as many months' deposit down as possible, especially in areas like London, to secure accommodation.
• You can experience different towns and cities and truly understand what lifestyle suits you best.
• If you don't like somewhere, you're not tied into a contract.
• You don't even have to stay in the UK; you can go to Europe (a similar time zone to the UK).

It's just that freedom of life that not many people have the beauty of experiencing.

UK professionals with the ability to follow this flexi-living lifestyle with short-term leases are so lucky. As long as the environment is still productive, it shouldn't get in the way of work, but it just means work isn't getting in the way of life either.