Hosting guests properly, from spare room to guest house.

1. Check what your city allows

Municipal zoning schemes decide what a property may be used for, and short term letting rules differ from city to city. Some municipalities, Cape Town among them, have specific provisions for short term rental, including limits tied to how the property is zoned; others treat regular hosting as a guest house that needs its own approval. Before the income becomes part of your budget, check your municipality's zoning and tourism rules for your property. Growing from a spare room into multiple rooms with breakfast is usually the point where a residence legally becomes a guest house.

2. Check your scheme's rules if you are in a complex

Body corporate conduct rules can regulate or prohibit short term letting, and many schemes have done exactly that after disputes over noise, security and gate access. Read your scheme's conduct rules before listing, and if you rent the property yourself, read your lease too; subletting to guests without the landlord's permission is a fast way to lose both the listing and the lease. Levies also matter: some schemes charge differently where units run as short term lets. A dispute with trustees over letting can go to CSOS, the ombud for community schemes, before it ever needs a lawyer.

3. Declare the income to SARS

• All hosting income is taxable and must be declared, whether the platform pays you from here or abroad. SARS receives more third party data every year; undeclared platform income is an easy find.
• You deduct real costs: a fair share of levies, rates, utilities and insurance for the hosted space, plus cleaning, platform fees and consumables. Tax is paid on the profit, which is often far less than the payouts suggest.
• Provisional tax: because no employer deducts PAYE from hosting income, regular hosts usually become provisional taxpayers and pay twice a year. Budget for it rather than meeting it in arrears.
• VAT arrives at scale: once taxable turnover from the accommodation passes R1 million in a twelve month period, VAT registration becomes compulsory. Most single property hosts never get there; a busy guest house can.

4. Insurance: tell your insurer you host

Ordinary household insurance assumes a private home. Paying guests change the risk, and a claim can be repudiated if the insurer was never told the property is hosted. Tell your insurer, ask about cover for guest related damage and liability, and read what the platform's own protection actually covers; platform guarantees are narrower than they look and are not a substitute for your own policy.

5. The cleaner: you may be a domestic employer

If you pay a cleaner directly for turnovers and they work for you regularly, you are their employer, with the standard duties: at least the national minimum wage, UIF if they work more than 24 hours a month for you, COIDA registration and written terms. If they come through a cleaning company, the company is the employer, not you. Our domestic employer page has the full five point check and a kit that closes the gaps.

Frequently asked questions