Every short-term rental must be registered, meet a fire safety standard and follow a mandatory code of conduct. Unhosted stays are capped at 180 nights a year in Greater Sydney and some regional areas, and 60 nights in most of Byron Shire. Here’s what to do before you list, checked against official NSW Government sources on 1 October 2026. General information, not legal advice.
Checklist
- Register the property on the NSW Planning Portal short-term rental accommodation (STRA) register before you advertise it. Registration costs $65, with a $25 renewal each year.
- Unhosted stays (you don’t live there during the stay) are capped at 180 nights a year in Greater Sydney, and in parts of Ballina, Clarence Valley and Muswellbrook. Hosted stays aren’t capped.
- Bookings of 21 or more consecutive nights don’t count toward the cap.
- In most of Byron Shire, unhosted stays are capped at 60 nights a year, from 23 September 2024 or your first renewal after that. Mapped precincts in Byron Bay town centre and Brunswick Heads have no cap.
- The property must meet the STRA fire safety standard, including interconnected smoke alarms and an evacuation plan.
- Hosts must follow the Fair Trading code of conduct: give guests contact and emergency details, tell direct neighbours how to reach you, hold insurance for third-party injury or death that covers each stay, and be contactable from 8 am to 5 pm every day and for emergencies after hours. Serious breaches can put a host or guest on the exclusion register.
- Strata schemes can pass a by-law banning short-term rentals in lots that aren’t the owner’s or occupier’s home. Hosted stays can’t be banned this way.
Coming up: The NSW Government is reviewing the STRA rules. No changes have been announced as law yet.
What a manager can handle for you
A local manager can register the property, keep the fire safety requirements and evacuation plan up to date, give neighbours a contact number, track nights against the cap and stay contactable for guests. Registration and compliance are still your responsibility as the owner, so ask how they handle each one.
Official sources
- NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure: short-term rental accommodation
- NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure: Byron Shire
- NSW Government: host obligations for short-term rental accommodation
Own in Victoria too? A 7.5% short stay levy applies to stays of less than 28 consecutive days. There is no statewide night cap, but apartment and townhouse owners corporations can vote to ban short stays. Read the Victorian rules.