Cape Town Airbnb hosts could pay triple rates

While the by-law remains open to public comment until 5 October, its main provisions are already baked into the city’s latest rates policy adopted on 29 June, which defines “commercial accommodation” as “a property used for the purposes of providing accommodation … where a primary place of residence is used or available to be used for short-term letting for more than 50% of the total annual room nights”.

A new by-law seeks to regulate short-term rentals in Cape Town by enforcing registration and imposing commercial rates on properties that are available to be let out on a short-term basis for 183 days or more per year.

But the city’s own Inner City Local Spatial Development Framework (LSDF) states 70% of the city centre’s residential units are used for commercial short-term accommodation.