Understanding Sydney's Short-Term Rental Regulations

Last reviewed: 27 July 2026. The previous version of this article dated from 2019 and was never updated. NSW introduced its statewide framework in November 2021, so essentially all of it was out of date.

The short version

• NSW runs a statewide framework, in place since November 2021, covering paid stays of up to three months in residential premises.
• Hosted STRA has no day cap. If you live on the property during the stay, you can operate 365 days a year.
• Non-hosted STRA in Greater Sydney is capped at 180 days.
• The 180 days are counted from your registration date, not from 1 January. This catches people out.
• You must register on the STRA Register via the NSW Planning Portal, and confirm the dwelling meets fire safety standards.
• A booking cannot exceed three months under tenancy legislation.
• A mandatory Code of Conduct binds hosts, guests, platforms and letting agents, with an Exclusion Register carrying a five-year ban.
• Strata by-laws can prohibit non-hosted STRA, unless the lot is your principal place of residence.
• Records must be kept for three years after the end of the occupancy period.
• Miss your renewal and you can lose the registration permanently.

Hosted versus non-hosted

Everything follows from this distinction.

Hosted STRA: you live on the property while guests stay, for example letting a spare room, or letting a granny flat while you occupy the main house. No day cap. You may operate all year.

Non-hosted STRA: the whole property is given over to guests and you are not on site. In the Greater Sydney region, this is limited to 180 days per year. Greater Sydney for this purpose covers the Eastern Harbour City, Central River City and Western Parkland City.

Most Sydney owners listing a whole apartment or house fall into the non-hosted category.

The counting period is unusual. The maximum number of non-hosted days is counted within a registration annual period, meaning 12 months from your initial registration date on the STRA Register. It is not a calendar year. If you registered in September, your year runs September to September.

If you already hold a valid development consent (DA), the day limit does not apply to your premises, though any day limit written into the consent conditions must be complied with. You must still register and upload the consent document.

Exceeding the limit removes your exemption. If non-hosted STRA exceeds the day limit, it is no longer permitted under the state policy as exempt development. Councils monitor the STRA Register to establish when that has happened.

Source: NSW Department of Planning, Short-term rental accommodation

At a glance

Question	Short answer
What is covered?	Paid stays of up to three months in residential premises
Hosted day cap	None
Non-hosted cap in Greater Sydney	180 days
Counting period	12 months from your registration date
Maximum single booking	Three months
Registration	STRA Register, via NSW Planning Portal
Fire safety	Must be confirmed at registration
Record retention	Three years after the occupancy period ends
Can strata ban it?	Yes, for non-principal-residence lots
Worst-case penalty	Five-year exclusion from the industry

Registration, and the renewal trap

You or your agent register the premises on the STRA Register through the NSW Planning Portal. At registration you must confirm that the dwelling meets the STRA fire safety standards.

Fees. Reporting from NSW Planning Portal material indicates a non-refundable one-off registration fee of $65 for the initial 12 months, and an ongoing annual renewal fee of $25. Confirm current amounts on the Portal.

Renewal is annual, from the date of original registration. You can renew from 45 days before the expiry date, and the Portal sends email reminders at 45, 30 and 7 days.

Here is the trap, and it is severe. If a premises is not renewed by the expiry date:

1. The registration is held for a further three months, during which it is blocked from accepting bookings from online booking platforms, and then
2. It is automatically de-registered. Once de-registered, it cannot be renewed. You must complete an entirely new property registration.

If you manage multiple STRA premises, each one must be renewed and paid for separately.

Also note it can take up to 24 hours for registration or renewal information to update on booking platform websites, so do not leave renewal to the last day.

Source: NSW Planning Portal, Short Term Rental Accommodation (STRA)

Fire safety standards

Dwellings used for STRA must comply with the STRA fire safety standards, enacted by Part 13A of the Environmental Planning and Assessment (Development Certification and Fire Safety) Regulation 2021.

You confirm compliance at registration, and the obligation is ongoing rather than one-off. Records must be kept for three years after the end of the occupancy period, in a readily producible form.

Councils handle fire safety complaints, including unsafe overcrowding.

The Code of Conduct and the Exclusion Register

This is the part of the NSW framework with the sharpest teeth, and it is unusual internationally.

The Code of Conduct for the short-term rental accommodation industry commenced on 18 December 2020. It is mandatory and it binds booking platforms, hosts, guests, and letting agents and facilitators alike. It sets minimum standards of behaviour covering matters such as noise, safety, respect for property and communication with neighbours.

Host obligations include maintaining a contact number for guests and neighbours, managing noise and antisocial behaviour, responding to complaints, and holding appropriate insurance.

NSW Fair Trading enforces it, and the disciplinary actions available include warning notices, fines, and listing on the public Exclusion Register. Once a person or premises is listed, they are prohibited from participating in the short-term rental accommodation industry for five years.

Reporting indicates fines for serious contraventions reaching up to $1.1 million for corporations and $220,000 for individuals.

Guests can be listed too. A guest who causes damage or serious disturbance can end up on the register, and platforms must then refuse their bookings.

That two-way accountability is the practical reason to keep good records of who was in your property and when: if a complaint escalates, your evidence is what distinguishes a resolved matter from a listing.

Source: NSW Department of Planning, Short-term rental accommodation, which links to the Code of Conduct on the NSW Fair Trading website

Strata by-laws

A meaningful protection and a meaningful risk, depending on your situation.

If the dwelling is in a strata building and is also your principal place of residence, you can undertake STRA under the state policy without reference to strata by-laws. You must still comply with everything else, including fire safety standards and the Code of Conduct.

If it is not your principal place of residence, an owners corporation can pass a by-law prohibiting non-hosted STRA in that lot, under Section 137A of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015.

So the practical position is: owner-occupiers hosting in their own home are protected from strata prohibition. Investors are not.

Development consent conditions may add further restrictions.

The three-month ceiling

Under tenancy legislation, a STRA booking cannot last more than three months. Beyond that you are into residential tenancy territory under the Residential Tenancies Act 2010, with an entirely different set of obligations.

Note the interaction with the day cap: longer bookings are one route Sydney operators use to extend their year, but three months is the hard ceiling for anything treated as STRA.

Complaints, and who handles what

NSW splits this across three bodies, which is worth knowing before something goes wrong:

• Local police for urgent matters, including excessive noise and antisocial or illegal behaviour
• Your local council for fire safety including unsafe overcrowding, planning approvals, parking, ongoing noise, and breaches of the non-hosted day limit
• NSW Fair Trading for deliberate or persistent breaches of the Code of Conduct

A practical checklist

1. Determine whether you are hosted or non-hosted
2. If non-hosted and in Greater Sydney, plan around the 180-day limit
3. Work out your registration anniversary, since that is when your year resets
4. If the lot is in strata and not your principal place of residence, check for a section 137A by-law
5. Confirm the dwelling meets the STRA fire safety standards before registering
6. Register on the STRA Register via the NSW Planning Portal
7. Diarise renewal well before expiry. Missing it can cost you the registration permanently
8. Renew each premises separately if you have several
9. Keep records for three years after each occupancy period ends, readily producible
10. Read the Code of Conduct and put a working complaints process in place
11. Keep no booking longer than three months
12. Maintain evidence of who accessed the property and when, in case of a Code complaint

Verified official sources

• NSW Department of Planning, Short-term rental accommodation (policy and legislation)
• NSW Department of Planning, Short-term rental accommodation (planning system)
• NSW Planning Portal, STRA Register
• NSW Planning Portal, Rules for STRA FAQs (PDF)

Named, not linked

• NSW Fair Trading, for the Code of Conduct, the Exclusion Register and complaints
• Code of Conduct for the short-term rental accommodation industry, commenced 18 December 2020
• Part 13A, Environmental Planning and Assessment (Development Certification and Fire Safety) Regulation 2021, the fire safety standards
• Section 137A, Strata Schemes Management Act 2015
• Residential Tenancies Act 2010
• State Environmental Planning Policy (Housing) 2021, the planning framework for STRA
• Your local council, for day-limit and fire safety enforcement
• The Australian Taxation Office, for income tax treatment

Important disclaimer

This article is not legal, tax or financial advice. It is general information written for a non-specialist reader, by a key management company rather than a law firm.

NSW's framework has several features that are easy to get wrong: the 180-day period runs from your registration date rather than the calendar year, missing a renewal deadline can permanently cost you the registration, and the Code of Conduct can result in a five-year exclusion from the industry for hosts and guests alike. Fees change. Strata by-law protection depends on whether the lot is your principal place of residence. Day limits differ in some non-Sydney parts of NSW.

Verify with the NSW Planning Portal and NSW Fair Trading before acting. For a strata dispute, a Code of Conduct matter or an investment decision, engage an Australian lawyer.

If you spot an error, an omission, or something that needs updating, please tell us and we will fix it.