{"id":865425,"date":"2026-07-04T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=865425"},"modified":"2026-07-03T16:38:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T14:38:29","slug":"big-changes-for-airbnb-and-booking-com-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/property\/865425\/big-changes-for-airbnb-and-booking-com-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Big changes for Airbnb and Booking.com in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The short-term rental market has grown rapidly in South Africa over a short period, with many sectional title property owners letting out their properties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa’s coastal areas and tourism hubs have seen a massive rise in short-term letting options, disrupting the traditional hotel and bed-and-breakfast markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In South Africa, the largest short-term letting platforms are Airbnb, Booking.com and LekkeSlaap, which have allowed landlords and tenants to enter into short-term leasing arrangements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Law firm Wright Rose-Innes said that the expansion has drawn the attention of the government and courts, prompting the creation of regulations that could have far-reaching implications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government fears that the short-term rental market is contributing to a shortage of long-term housing, while also increasing rental prices and reducing access to affordable accommodation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In March 2026, the Minister of Tourism, Patricia de Lille, published a Code of Good Practice for Short-Term Rentals for public comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Although the code is not legally binding, it provides interim guidance pending amendments to the Tourism Act 3 of 2014,” said Wright Rose-Innes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The code is intended to apply to short-term rental hosts, short-term rental guests, designated persons, and platform\/accommodation facilitators.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The code also aims to provide guidance on responsible conduct within the short-term rental market. When in force, it will look at specific obligations, such as the duty to avoid excessive noise or disruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sectional title changes <\/h2>\n\n\n
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Role players will also have to comply with local authority requirements and any applicable body corporate or homeowners\u2019 association rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Body corporates in sectional title schemes and homeowners\u2019 associations (HOAs) in residential estates will thus play a critical role in regulating property use. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Sectional title schemes, in particular, have seen a notable increase in short-term letting due to the typically compact nature of their units and the range of amenities they offer,” said Wright Rose-Innes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“To ensure effective management, these schemes must have rules governing the conduct of owners, tenants and visitors.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The body corporate will also have a duty to enforce compliance with all laws and the scheme’s management and conduct rules. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These rules will also need to be reasonable and applied uniformly to all residents. As per the Sectional Titles Schemes Management Act, a unit cannot unreasonably interfere with others in the scheme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That said, body corporates can amend their rules, subject to Community Schemes Ombud Service (CSOS) approval. These rules would then become binding on all residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A recent High Court ruling has held that a body corporate may validly prohibit short-term letting within a scheme, provided the rule is reasonable and adopted by a majority of residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Importantly, such a prohibition does not infringe on an owner\u2019s constitutional property rights, as long as it regulates the duration of leases rather than imposing an outright ban on leasing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further developments are also underway at the metro level, with the City of Cape Town introducing measures to classify certain short-term rental properties as commercial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“These properties may then be subject to commercial rates and taxes, rather than residential rates,” said Wright Rose-Innes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The Municipality\u2019s position is that short-term letting constitutes a business activity, thereby justifying its classification under existing commercial tariff structures rather than the creation of a new tax category.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The law firm said that owners in sectional title schemes should familiarise themselves with their scheme\u2019s rules to determine whether short-term letting is allowed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Short-term letting has grown rapidly in South Africa, with local and national government setting out new regulations. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":865443,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12755],"tags":[10201,16772,13263],"class_list":["post-865425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-property","tag-airbnb","tag-booking-com","tag-wright-rose-innes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=865425"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865425\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":865446,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865425\/revisions\/865446"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/865443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=865425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=865425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=865425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}