A month in Cape Town

South Africa charges VAT at 15% through VAT-registered businesses. For commercial accommodation, the hospitality kind, the VAT Act has a rule for long stays, as SARS explains it: when the accommodation comes with domestic goods and services, such as cleaning, electricity and furniture, at an all-inclusive charge for a continuous period of more than 28 days, only 60% of that charge is subject to VAT. For 28 days or less, the full charge is.

The lease of a dwelling is a different supply and is exempt from VAT; SARS gives a family home leased on a long-term basis as an example, and notes that residential leases usually run six months or more. A host whose commercial accommodation brings in ZAR 120,000 or less a year is not treated as a VAT enterprise at all, so compare totals rather than rates.

No long-stay rule for TOMSA was found: where a business collects it, the 1% levy applies to the room rate, with VAT added.

The City of Cape Town's planning by-law defines a transient guest as someone staying at most 30 consecutive days in a place that is not their permanent home, and lets a dwelling unit house one family or up to 5 transient guests. A bed and breakfast serves transient guests, with the owner living on the property and at most 3 rooms and 6 guests.

The by-law sets land uses, not a guest's paperwork, and no City rule requiring a registration number on rental listings was found. At national level, a 2019 draft amendment to the Tourism Act would let the minister set thresholds for short-term home sharing; no enacted threshold was found as of September 2026.

Sea Point suits a month in an apartment by the promenade, about 4 km from the centre, and Green Point, beside the V&A Waterfront, a month with the harbour close. Gardens, in the City Bowl, suits a month in a residential street below Table Mountain, with the restaurants of Kloof Street nearby.

Muizenberg and Kalk Bay suit a month on False Bay by the surf and the harbour, about 26 to 30 km from the centre, and Stellenbosch a month in a university town among the wine farms, about 34 km from the airport. These choices are editorial.

Ordinary passports from the UK, the US and most EU countries give 90 days without a visa; those of Cyprus and Poland give 30, which a month of 31 days exceeds. Visitors are restricted to the purpose of their visit, tourism or business, according to the Department of Home Affairs.

The Electronic Travel Authorisation, launched in August 2026, is optional for visa-exempt travellers and lets them apply to extend a stay by up to 90 days; its fee was not found. Since 1 July 2026 travellers entering or leaving must submit a customs declaration online before the trip. UK travel advice asks for a passport valid at least 30 days after departure, with two blank pages.

Airbnb calls a reservation of 28 nights or more a monthly stay: the first month is charged up front and released to the host 24 hours after check-in, later months are charged 10 days ahead, and the price is fixed at booking. Its long-term cancellation policy applies to these stays and, as a rule, asks for 30 days' notice of changes. Airbnb's 28 nights is a platform rule; SARS's VAT rule starts after 28 days.

A Cypriot or Polish passport. Ordinary passports from these two countries give 30 days, not 90.

Comparing prices with and without VAT. A VAT-registered host adds 15%, on 60% of an all-inclusive charge after 28 days; a small unregistered host adds none.

Parking by the day. The V&A's garages charged ZAR 120 for 12 to 24 hours on the April 2026 tariff, and marshals in the CBD and Sea Point collect for each stay at the kerb, so ask for a bay with the apartment.

The airport road after dark. UK travel advice warns that carjacking is common after dark and advises the N2 and M3 rather than the R300.

Skipping the traveller declaration. Since 1 July 2026 it is required online before arrival and before departure.