Government cracking down on Airbnb in SA

Swa said:
Highlight the concern. What other options have been considered?


Does anybody declare all their income? Assuming they're eligible for tax. Careful there. This is a SARS matter and the correct manner to handle it is to establish confidence in the government. Just because something is regulated doesn't make it compliant and there's plenty of formal businesses not declaring all their income. I know doctors, probably one of the most highly regulated industries, that deal in cash with little to no paperwork and so would not be declaring it all.
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I don't know if it's illegal to financially support criminals. But it's certainly immoral.

There is that.

I don't know of any form of taxation that is conducted with the payer's victim's consent.
 
Swa said:
Highlight the concern. What other options have been considered?
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If you’re operating as something with established regulatory frameworks they should also apply to you regardless of technical innovation.

Swa said:
Does anybody declare all their income? Assuming they're eligible for tax. Careful there. This is a SARS matter and the correct manner to handle it is to establish confidence in the government. Just because something is regulated doesn't make it compliant and there's plenty of formal businesses not declaring all their income. I know doctors, probably one of the most highly regulated industries, that deal in cash with little to no paperwork and so would not be declaring it all.
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You’re the one who introduced the soft target are tax payers argument.
 
purple face said:
I was trying to enter my building one night at 7pm and this woman asked me where her key was? I then found out she was staying in an AirBnb. I live in a sectional title building and its against the rules to do short term rentals
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So, the trustees elected to fine the owner/s of the unit?
 
purple face said:
I was trying to enter my building one night at 7pm and this woman asked me where her key was? I then found out she was staying in an AirBnb. I live in a sectional title building and its against the rules to do short term rentals
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When your customer blows your cover :giggle:
 
lexity said:
When your customer blows your cover :giggle:
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Sometimes it can be your customer's customer :laugh: Landlords have renters who are actually professional AirBNB hosts and sub-letting the heck out of it. Loads of corporates offer shared accommodation where you get a room with 3 others and they're targeting those rooms too.
 
quovadis said:
Sometimes it can be your customer's customer :laugh: Landlords have renters who are actually professional AirBNB hosts and sub-letting the heck out of it. Loads of corporates offer shared accommodation where you get a room with 3 others and they're targeting those rooms too.
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Yes. If I were an owner staying in one of those e.g. next door to a recursive sublet, I might not appreciate all the coming and going.

But I suppose that is what contracts are for. Stipulate terms and conditions upfront to mitigate for contentious issues. Put in penalties to make it more unlikely any party will willingly break the rules.
 
lexity said:
Yes. If I were an owner staying in one of those e.g. next door to a recursive sublet, I might not appreciate all the coming and going.

But I suppose that is what contracts are for. Stipulate terms and conditions upfront to mitigate for contentious issues. Put in penalties to make it more unlikely any party will willingly break the rules.
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The problem is eviction is not easy. I know someone who had their cape town unit rented out where a deposit was paid. Single 1 bed furnished unit. Renter Airbnb'd the crap out of it and eviction was a pain and they received nothing in excess of the deposit paid. Obviously this has knock on effects for people in the rental market as many landlords are more stringent in diligence and are being super selective in terms of who they rent to and are demanding higher and higher deposits.
 
now05ster said:
So, the trustees elected to fine the owner/s of the unit?
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I suppose a point to also consider is how trustees often fail to do the job assigned to them. As with anything in those situations the trustees may or may not do anything no matter how obvious the transgression is. Or they will give it a try and send a warning and then do nothing further despite the transgressions continuing.
 
airborne said:
I suppose a point to also consider is how trustees often fail to do the job assigned to them. As with anything in those situations the trustees may or may not do anything no matter how obvious the transgression is. Or they will give it a try and send a warning and then do nothing further despite the transgressions continuing.
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What's the expectation? They're essentially bound by the rules and applicable acts.
 
airborne said:
I suppose a point to also consider is how trustees often fail to do the job assigned to them. As with anything in those situations the trustees may or may not do anything no matter how obvious the transgression is. Or they will give it a try and send a warning and then do nothing further despite the transgressions continuing.
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Yeah, I suppose I'm looking at it from the lens of our sectional title here: retired people with too much time on their hands and some still trying to cling onto some notion of power.
 
quovadis said:
If you’re operating as something with established regulatory frameworks they should also apply to you regardless of technical innovation.
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I think we've been through that already. It's their own people in the wrong and not the people they are looking to regulate. The problem is one of enforcement which SA doesn't have a good track record of. Adding more red tape to our economy won't solve that and we are already over-regulated as it is compared to some other markets and countries.

quovadis said:
You’re the one who introduced the soft target are tax payers argument.
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No the soft target is the usual which is easy to police. The hard targets we all know they'll never go after and we all know why as well. The hard targets just happen to be the biggest tax dodgers operating real businesses without regulation so start enforcing existing laws there before introducing new ones.
 
Swa said:
I think we've been through that already. It's their own people in the wrong and not the people they are looking to regulate. The problem is one of enforcement which SA doesn't have a good track record of. Adding more red tape to our economy won't solve that and we are already over-regulated as it is compared to some other markets and countries.
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It’s existing red tape simply being applied to those essentially providing the same service. As for the economy im sure a regulated environment is more investor friendly.

Swa said:
No the soft target is the usual which is easy to police. The hard targets we all know they'll never go after and we all know why as well. The hard targets just happen to be the biggest tax dodgers operating real businesses without regulation so start enforcing existing laws there before introducing new ones.
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You’re arguing with yourself.
 
quovadis said:
It’s existing red tape simply being applied to those essentially providing the same service. As for the economy im sure a regulated environment is more investor friendly.
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I thought we already established they aren't providing the same service? If they are then there's also millions of people providing it for decades without anyone batting an eyelid. Yeah no, I don't buy that argument.

quovadis said:
You’re arguing with yourself.
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No, one of the proposed regulations in the article is related to tax. My response to that is that there are already rules and regulations in place relying on self-compliance. There are bigger culprits in that area which are let be where every other country will go after them first but in SA they go after the soft inconsequential targets because of political reasons.
 
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