Short-term rental rules
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Adelaide (City of Adelaide), SA
Can I short-term rent in Adelaide (City of Adelaide)?
Restricted
South Australia has no state-wide STR registration scheme, night cap, or levy currently in force. A Legislative Council Select Committee on the Short Stay Accommodation Sector (established February 2025, submissions closed 2 May 2025) tabled its final report in the Legislative Council on 16 September 2025, 13 findings and 7 recommendations after hearing 40 witnesses, including a state-wide short-stay accommodation register, a code of conduct, minimum safety standards, and fees/levies on short-stay owners, but as at 24 July 2026, more than 10 months later, no government response or implementing legislation was identified in this pass, so none of this is yet law. In the City of Adelaide, short-stay letting itself is not subject to an STR-specific planning trigger, but Council has since 1 July 2024 re-rated any property used or advertised as short-stay accommodation for more than 90 days a year as Non-Residential (commercial) for council rates, this fact is confirmed verbatim against the council's own page. SA strata (community title) by-laws can also lawfully impose a minimum letting period of less than 2 months under Community Titles Act 1996 (SA) s37(2)(a), which can effectively block short-term letting in buildings that adopt such a by-law, this figure is now confirmed against the SA Law Handbook (Legal Services Commission of SA), corroborated independently via AustLII.
Last verified 2026-07-24 against official sources. Every fact below links to where it comes from.
The rules, fact by fact
| Rule | What applies | Applies to | Since | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Registration |
No state-wide or City of Adelaide mandatory STR registration/permit scheme exists yet, but a Legislative Council Select Committee has recommended introducing one.
Unlike NSW, WA, ACT or Byron Shire, SA has no statutory STR register and Adelaide City Council has no operating permit scheme. A Legislative Council Select Committee on the Short Stay Accommodation Sector (established February 2025) took submissions closing COB 2 May 2025 (per parliament.sa.gov.au's submissions-open notice) on options including a state-wide register, code of conduct, and potential taxes/levies on the sector. After hearing from 40 witnesses over six months, the Committee tabled its final report in the Legislative Council on 16 September 2025, with 13 findings and 7 recommendations, including establishing a state-wide short-stay accommodation register, a code of conduct, minimum safety standards, and fees/levies on short-stay owners. As at 24 July 2026 no government response or implementing legislation was identified in this pass, so none of the recommendations are yet in force. Separately, Adelaide City Council has publicly floated (from Dec 2023) a CBD/North Adelaide permit system with an annual fee and made its own submission to the Select Committee; whether that local proposal has since been adopted, deferred or dropped could not be confirmed in this pass, Council's own rates and permits/licences pages currently make no mention of it. Net effect: hosts currently face no STR-specific registration step anywhere in SA. Exceptions: None currently in force, this is an absence-of-scheme finding, not an exemption from one. A human should watch for a state government response to the Select Committee's September 2025 report (parliament.sa.gov.au / SA Government media releases), and separately check City of Adelaide council meeting agendas/minutes for the status of its own CBD/North Adelaide permit proposal, which remains unconfirmed either way. ⚠ Our confidence in this fact is medium. Confirm with the source before relying on it. |
Hosted & non-hosted | n/a | State Gov |
| Night cap |
No hosted or non-hosted night cap applies in SA or the City of Adelaide.
South Australia has neither a state-imposed annual night cap (unlike NSW's 180-day Greater Sydney cap or Byron's 60-day cap) nor has the City of Adelaide adopted one. The Council's own rating policy uses a 90-day-per-year threshold, but that changes the rates category applied to a property, not a legal limit on how many nights it can be let, confirmed directly against the live City of Adelaide rates page, which frames the 90-day rule purely as a rating classification, with no mention of any nightly cap. The Legislative Council Select Committee's final report (tabled 16 September 2025) recommended a state-wide register, code of conduct, minimum safety standards and fees/levies, but did not, on the evidence found in this pass, recommend a night cap specifically. Council has separately discussed a possible night cap as one option in its own short-stay policy review, but nothing has been adopted. |
Hosted & non-hosted | n/a | Council |
| Planning approval |
SA's Planning and Design Code treats dedicated short-stay letting of a dwelling as "tourist accommodation", which can require development approval depending on zone and scale; genuinely ancillary/owner-present hosting of part of a home is generally not development.
Under the state-wide Planning and Design Code (administered via the PlanSA portal, not a separate Adelaide-specific instrument), using a dwelling for short visitor accommodation for reward, bed and breakfast, cabin, holiday letting, Airbnb-style whole-home letting, can fall within the "tourist accommodation" use definition, which is a non-complying or restricted (needing consent) use in many residential zones. Whether a specific listing needs a development application depends on the zone the property sits in, the scale of the operation and whether it is the host's principal place of residence. Regional/council guidance (neighbouring Barossa Council) states development approval is required to use an existing dwelling for any form of tourist accommodation regardless of guest numbers, under the same statewide Code that applies to the City of Adelaide LGA, this quote was verified live against the Barossa Council page and matches exactly. There is no single Adelaide-specific carve-out; hosts should check the zone via the PlanSA portal before listing a dedicated non-hosted property. Exceptions: Owner-occupied hosted stays (renting a room while the host is present) are more likely to be regarded as ancillary to the existing residential use and not require approval, but this is a zone-by-zone judgement, not a blanket state exemption, unlike NSW's clearer hosted/non-hosted statutory split. Note the cited source is Barossa Council, not a City of Adelaide-specific page, used because both councils operate under the same state-wide Code and no clearer Adelaide-specific statement of the rule was found. ⚠ Our confidence in this fact is medium. Confirm with the source before relying on it. |
Non-hosted | n/a | Council |
| Levies & taxes |
South Australia has no short-stay accommodation levy or tax currently in force (state or City of Adelaide), though the Select Committee's September 2025 report recommended introducing fees/levies.
Unlike Victoria's 7.5% short-stay levy or the ACT's 5% levy, SA has not legislated any STR-specific levy. The 2025 Select Committee inquiry's terms of reference explicitly included consideration of "potential taxes or levies" on the sector, and its final report, tabled in the Legislative Council on 16 September 2025, with 13 findings and 7 recommendations, recommended fees/levies be charged to short-stay accommodation owners as part of a wider registration scheme. As at 24 July 2026 no such levy has been legislated or is in force; this remains a recommendation pending a government response, which was not identified in this pass. ⚠ Our confidence in this fact is medium. Confirm with the source before relying on it. |
Hosted & non-hosted | n/a | State Gov |
| Strata / owners corporation |
SA strata (community title) by-laws can lawfully impose a minimum letting period, which in practice can ban short-stay letting in buildings that adopt them, confirmed as 2 months under Community Titles Act 1996 (SA) s37(2)(a).
Section 37(2)(a) of the Community Titles Act 1996 (SA) permits a scheme's corporation, by special resolution, to adopt a by-law that prohibits or restricts an owner from leasing or granting a right of occupation of a lot for valuable consideration for a period of less than 2 months. This pass confirmed the exact wording and the '2 months' figure by fetching the South Australian Law Handbook (published by the Legal Services Commission of SA, a state statutory authority) at https://www.lawhandbook.sa.gov.au/ch23s07s02s20.php, which quotes s37(2)(a) directly: a corporation may pass a special resolution to include a by-law that 'prohibits or restricts an owner of a lot from leasing for a period of less than two months.' This is independently corroborated by AustLII's consolidated text of the section (classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/sa/consol_act/cta1996224/s37.html), located via search, though AustLII itself still returns HTTP 403 to direct automated fetch in this environment (same failure mode as the previous pass). Many City of Adelaide apartment buildings have adopted such minimum-stay by-laws, which as a practical matter block Airbnb-style short-term letting in those schemes. An equivalent power is believed to exist under the Strata Titles Act 1988 (SA) for strata (as opposed to community) titled schemes, though this was not independently re-checked in this pass. Exceptions: Only applies where a scheme's corporation has actually adopted such a by-law, many older or non-strata (Torrens title) properties in the City of Adelaide, including most freestanding houses, are unaffected. The equivalent Strata Titles Act 1988 (SA) provision for strata-titled (not community-titled) schemes was not independently re-checked in this pass. |
Hosted & non-hosted | n/a | State Gov |
| Council rates |
City of Adelaide rates a property as Non-Residential (commercial) if it is used or made available as short-stay accommodation for more than 90 days in the previous financial year.
From 1 July 2024, under the City of Adelaide's 2024/25 Business Plan and Budget, any property used as, or made available for, short-stay accommodation (defined as premises used for temporary paid visitor accommodation, expressly including hotels, serviced apartments and private residences let via platforms such as Airbnb and Stayz) for more than 90 days in the prior financial year is designated 'short-stay accommodation' and rated Non-Residential rather than Residential, reflecting its commercial character. Council uses third-party analysis of publicly available booking-platform data to identify qualifying properties; it does not rely on self-reporting. Verification: this rule was fetched live from the City of Adelaide's own rates page and matches the source almost word-for-word, including the 90-day threshold, the 1 July 2024 effective date, and the third-party-data-analysis method. This remains the single most solidly confirmed fact in this record. Exceptions: Properties let for 90 days or fewer per financial year remain rated Residential. A property is captured if it is merely *advertised/available* for the required period, even without 90 actual booked nights. |
Hosted & non-hosted | 2024-07-01 | Council |
What's changed in Adelaide (City of Adelaide)
- 2025-09-16 SA Legislative Council Select Committee on the Short Stay Accommodation Sector tabled its final report (13 findings, 7 recommendations after 40 witnesses), recommending a state-wide short-stay accommodation register, code of conduct, minimum safety standards, and fees/levies on short-stay owners. Not yet legislated or actioned by government as at 24 July 2026. source
- 2024-07-01 City of Adelaide began rating properties used/advertised as short-stay accommodation for more than 90 days/year as Non-Residential (commercial) rather than Residential. source
Host checklist for Adelaide (City of Adelaide)
- No state-wide or City of Adelaide mandatory STR registration/permit scheme exists yet, but a Legislative Council Select Committee has recommended introducing one. official page
- SA's Planning and Design Code treats dedicated short-stay letting of a dwelling as "tourist accommodation", which can require development approval depending on zone and scale; genuinely ancillary/owner-present hosting of part of a home is generally not development. official page
- South Australia has no short-stay accommodation levy or tax currently in force (state or City of Adelaide), though the Select Committee's September 2025 report recommended introducing fees/levies. official page
- Confirm anything marked below high confidence directly with your council.
Common questions
Do I need to register my short-term rental in Adelaide (City of Adelaide)?
No state-wide or City of Adelaide mandatory STR registration/permit scheme exists yet, but a Legislative Council Select Committee has recommended introducing one. Exceptions: None currently in force, this is an absence-of-scheme finding, not an exemption from one. A human should watch for a state government response to the Select Committee's September 2025 report (parliament.sa.gov.au / SA Government media releases), and separately check City of Adelaide council meeting agendas/minutes for the status of its own CBD/North Adelaide permit proposal, which remains unconfirmed either way.
How many nights a year can I short-term rent in Adelaide (City of Adelaide)?
No hosted or non-hosted night cap applies in SA or the City of Adelaide.
Do I need council or planning approval to short-term rent in Adelaide (City of Adelaide)?
SA's Planning and Design Code treats dedicated short-stay letting of a dwelling as "tourist accommodation", which can require development approval depending on zone and scale; genuinely ancillary/owner-present hosting of part of a home is generally not development. Exceptions: Owner-occupied hosted stays (renting a room while the host is present) are more likely to be regarded as ancillary to the existing residential use and not require approval, but this is a zone-by-zone judgement, not a blanket state exemption, unlike NSW's clearer hosted/non-hosted statutory split. Note the cited source is Barossa Council, not a City of Adelaide-specific page, used because both councils operate under the same state-wide Code and no clearer Adelaide-specific statement of the rule was found.
Can my strata or owners corporation stop me short-term renting in Adelaide (City of Adelaide)?
SA strata (community title) by-laws can lawfully impose a minimum letting period, which in practice can ban short-stay letting in buildings that adopt them, confirmed as 2 months under Community Titles Act 1996 (SA) s37(2)(a). Exceptions: Only applies where a scheme's corporation has actually adopted such a by-law, many older or non-strata (Torrens title) properties in the City of Adelaide, including most freestanding houses, are unaffected. The equivalent Strata Titles Act 1988 (SA) provision for strata-titled (not community-titled) schemes was not independently re-checked in this pass.
Is there a levy or tax on short-stay bookings in Adelaide (City of Adelaide)?
South Australia has no short-stay accommodation levy or tax currently in force (state or City of Adelaide), though the Select Committee's September 2025 report recommended introducing fees/levies.
Related
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