Have your say City of Cape Town draft Short-Term Letting By-Law — public comment open 4 Aug – 4 Oct 2026
Fintec Group Accounting · Tax · Compliance Check your exposure
Cape Town short-term letting

Your Airbnb could soon be rated like a hotel.

The City's draft By-Law will let it check your listing's occupancy against a 50% threshold — and re-rate your property as commercial if you're over it. Commercial rates are more than double residential. Find out where you stand in under a minute.

Run the calculator
Days left to comment
What's changing

Properties let short-term for more than 50% of annual room-night capacity will be rated commercial, not residential — and platforms will be required to share occupancy data with the City.

Who it affects

Any owner listing a property on Airbnb, Booking.com, or a similar platform in Cape Town — including part-time hosts who let a room or a granny flat.

What to do

Check your occupancy against the threshold now, understand your rates exposure, and submit comment before the window closes on 4–5 October 2026.

SAIT Registered Tax Practitioner CIBA Chartered Business Accountant 20+ Years in Practice Est. 2023
Free calculator

What would you actually pay?

Enter your property's details below. Everything you need is on your latest municipal rates account and your booking platform's occupancy report — we'll show you exactly where to look.

Your property

Find this on your latest municipal rates account, under "Market Value" or "Valuation."
Also shown on your rates account — usually near the property valuation.
365 for a single unit let year-round. Multiply by number of rooms if you let more than one separately.
Open your Airbnb / Booking.com calendar or earnings report and count nights actually booked over the last 12 months.

Your provisional position

0% let100% let
0%
Rateable value if residential
Rateable value if commercial
Annual rates — residential
Annual rates — commercial
Annual impact if reclassified
Based on the City's proposed 2026/27 tariffs (residential 0.006428, commercial 0.015106 cents in the rand) and a R500,000 residential rebate on properties valued up to R8m. Figures are indicative and subject to the adopted budget and finalised By-Law text.

Get your full written summary

We'll email a one-page PDF with your numbers, the key dates, and what to do next — including whether it's worth submitting comment before 4 October.

Please fill in your name, email, and consent before submitting.
✓ Thanks — your summary is on its way to your inbox.