Short-Term Rental Rules in Brazil

Where the law stands in November 2026

Short stays in a Brazilian apartment building are not illegal, and they are not free of limits either. At the start of November 2026 the highest civil court has ruled against owners once, has taken up the question again for a binding answer, and has paused related cases across the country. Anyone purchasing for nightly lets is buying into that uncertainty.

Three layers of rules apply, and you have to clear all of them:

The building: its convenção (founding rulebook) and the two-thirds vote the STJ now asks for. This is where most owners get stopped.
The contract: the Tenancy Law's season-let rules, which cap a lease at 90 days.
The state: municipal registration and ISS (the city services tax) in some places, then the consumption tax reform from 2027.

A detached house outside any condominium clears the first layer automatically, because there is no convenção to obey. It still faces the other two. A house inside a gated development usually has a convenção, so check it. Coastal markets such as Trancoso and Búzios have many houses, while most stock in Copacabana or Pinheiros is apartments, so the building layer weighs far more there.

Nothing on this page predicts how the STJ will rule. The sections below say what has been decided, who disagrees and what to check.

What the STJ has decided

2021: the Fourth Panel

In REsp 1.819.075/RS, decided on 20 April 2021, the STJ's Fourth Panel upheld an order stopping two owners from offering units on a platform in a building whose convenção set residential use. The majority called this kind of stay an atypical lodging contract, distinct from a season let and from a hotel stay. It also said the activity is lawful in itself, and that a convenção may allow it. Minister Luis Felipe Salomão dissented, arguing that a building can demand security measures and cannot ban the rentals.

7 May 2026: the Second Section

The Second Section, which unites the STJ's private-law panels, decided REsp 2.121.055/MG. By majority, with Minister Nancy Andrighi writing, it held that a convenção need not ban short stays expressly. A clause setting residential use is enough. Authorizing stays through platforms takes a vote of two-thirds of the owners, under Civil Code art. 1.351, because this changes the use of the unit. Portas reports the vote as 5 to 4, and the court's own note says only "by majority".

Minister Ricardo Villas Bôas Cueva dissented. The minority held that this use is presumed lawful as part of property rights, and that any ban should come from Congress. Lawyers quoted by Conjur stress that the vote looks at the character of the stay: frequent, habitual, commercial lets to strangers, with no minimum stay, as opposed to occasional use. The line between the two is not drawn with any figure.

Tema 1.443: the binding question

The May ruling guides lower courts without binding them. The STJ then took up REsp 2.272.537 and 2.272.536 under the repetitive-appeals procedure, as Tema 1.443, with Minister Raul Araújo as rapporteur. The question is whether a residential-use clause alone stops short stays through platforms, or whether an express ban is needed. Individual and collective cases on that question are on hold nationwide until judgment. The STJ's note of 17 September 2026 gives no exceptions and no judgment date. Sources date the decision to take up the case differently, between 26 May and 8 June 2026.

The prosecutors' view

On 28 August 2026 the Federal Public Ministry filed an opinion in the opposite direction. It argues that short stays keep their residential character, that a digital listing doesn't change the use of a unit, and that a building needs an express ban to stop them. The opinion doesn't bind the court. Airbnb, which took part in the May case as an interested party, says that ruling concerned one specific case and orders no general ban.

For a buyer, that leaves this: under the most recent ruling, a residential building with no express permission is a risk, and the binding answer is still to come.

How the rules apply to your building

What the convenção says and where that leaves an owner, November 2026
Convenção says	Under REsp 2.121.055	Open point
Short stays or platforms expressly allowed	Allowed, under the building's rules	A later two-thirds vote could change the clause
Short stays expressly banned	Banned	Little doubt; even the prosecutors' opinion accepts express bans
Residential use only, nothing on short stays	Needs a two-thirds vote to allow them	This is the exact question in Tema 1.443
Silent on use altogether	Not addressed directly	Lawyers quoted by Conjur expect litigation here
Mixed use, or a building licensed as apart-hotel	The ruling rests on residential use	Read the license and the convenção together

Conjur's commentators expect the sharpest conflict in residential buildings with mostly permanent occupants. They describe studios, lofts and serviced apartments near tourist or transport hubs as already oriented to rental. A building's profile is a useful clue, and it isn't a legal right.

Counting a two-thirds vote

Portas reports the two-thirds as counted over all owners, not those present. Take a 60-unit building where each unit has an equal share: 40 votes are needed. Twenty absent owners count, in effect, as no votes. Two 2022 changes help a building get there. Under art. 1.353, §§1 to 3, a vote short of the special quorum can carry on as a permanent session for up to 90 days, gathering more votes. Under art. 1.354-A, a meeting can run electronically unless the convenção forbids it. How to read those votes in the minutes is covered in the condominium fees guide.

What happens if you let anyway

The building can fine you and go to court. Art. 1.336, §2 caps a fine for breaching an owner's duties at five times the monthly fee. Repeated breach can bring the same cap by a three-quarters vote, and repeated antisocial conduct ten times (art. 1.337, sole paragraph). On a R$ 2,200 fee, typical of Ipanema in Loft's data, that is R$ 11,000 and R$ 22,000 (about US$ 2,030 and US$ 4,059). The fines become part of the unit's debt, and a future buyer answers for them under art. 1.345. A court can also order the listing stopped, as happened in the 2021 case.

Before you buy

Ask for the convenção before you make an offer, not after. Read the checklist above, and have your lawyer write the permitted use into the contract as a condition if short stays are the reason you are buying. The buying guide shows where a condition like that fits. A broker's statement that "everyone rents here" gives you no legal protection.

What the Tenancy Law allows

Law 8.245/1991 has a section for the locação para temporada, the season let. Art. 48 covers a lease for temporary residence, leisure, courses, health treatment or building work on the tenant's own home, for up to 90 days, furnished or not.

Three features matter to owners:

Rent up front. Art. 49 lets the landlord collect rent and charges in advance, in a lump sum, and ask for any guarantee allowed by art. 37. That is unusual in Brazilian leases.
A hard edge at the end. Under art. 50, if the tenant stays more than 30 days past the end date without your objecting, the lease is presumed extended for an indefinite period and you lose advance payment. You can then end it only after 30 months from the start, or in the cases listed in art. 47.
No hotel rules, as a starting point. Art. 1 of the law excludes apart-hotels and residence hotels that provide regular services. Those run on the Civil Code and special laws.

The dispute in the courts is whether a stay booked through a platform counts as a season let at all. Minister Andrighi described these contracts as neither residential leases nor hotel lodging, possibly atypical contracts, and said the platform used doesn't change their legal nature. The prosecutors' opinion rests on the Tenancy Law. Regina Céli Martins, a lawyer quoted by Conjur, agrees that it is an atypical contract, and argues that an automatic ban offends the principle of legality.

Added services shift the argument. Cleaning during the stay, breakfast or a reception desk push a let toward lodging. That matters for the court cases and for ISS, as explained in the next chapter. Keep your offer to what the Tenancy Law describes if you want to stay on the rental side of that line. A longer stay is a different thing: above 90 days, you are writing an ordinary lease, with its own eviction rules, and the income tax treatment in the rental income guide applies either way.

City rules by name

Cities have tried several approaches, from registries to tax laws, and critics argue that lease law belongs to the federal government. That argument has not been settled across the board. Check the city's current text before relying on any line below, since these rules change often.

Selected municipal rules and bills, as last reported
City	Rule	Status
Rio de Janeiro	PL 2265/2026: host registry, data on check-in dates and income, ban on indoor cameras, fines of R$ 1,000 for hosts and R$ 10,000 for platforms and brokers	Bill only. Filed 28 May 2026, under review by committees and not voted in plenary as of August 2026
São Paulo	Social housing units (HIS and HMP) must go to families within income limits. Listings face removal	Removal of 1,625 listings began 3 August 2026
Salvador	Law 9.877/2025 updates the tax code: platforms collect ISS, with a possible host registry	Sanctioned in October 2025; the platforms' sector disputes it
Gramado	3% ISS on the nightly rate, the hotel rate, collected by platforms	Reported as approved December 2025, starting 9 March 2026
Curitiba	Bill to allow up to 120 days a year, with registration by address, IPTU number and guest limit	Bill under analysis
Ponta Grossa	Law 15.600/2025 asks platforms to withhold ISS	Passed in 2025
Ubatuba	Law 4.050/2017 revoked after prosecutors called it unconstitutional. Owners with no added services stay under the Tenancy Law	Replacement approved in December 2018

São Paulo social housing

This one catches foreign buyers of compact apartments. São Paulo has licensed about 300,000 HIS and HMP units since 2014. Investors may buy them, but lets must go to families within income limits, with rent no higher than 30% of the tenant's income. Portas reports the price and income bands: HIS-1 up to R$ 276,000 and three minimum wages, HIS-2 up to R$ 383,600 and three to six, HMP up to R$ 537,600 and six to ten. If a studio in Vila Madalena or Vila Olímpia is priced in those bands, ask how it was licensed. Hosts must contest a removal with the city, and a listing comes back only after city confirmation or a court order.

Does ISS apply?

Cities argue that a short stay is lodging, which is taxable under items 9.01 and 9.02 of the list in LC 116/2003. A law firm's March 2026 review cites several decisions the other way: STF Binding Precedent 31 (on movable goods) and Tema 212, STJ REsp 952.159/SP, and a São Paulo state court ruling (Appeal 1032358-70.2022.8.26.0053). All treat a pure rental as outside ISS because letting is no service. Once services are bundled, the city's case gets stronger. On Rio's bill, ADEMI-RJ reports that platforms could have to withhold ISS, while a later report doesn't link the bill to ISS at all, so read the current text. ISS is due to give way to the new consumption taxes under the reform.

For markets not in this table, ask the city's finance department in writing. A rule may also exist for your market that no national source has reported. Use each city page as a starting point, and take the answer from the municipality.

How LC 214/2025 treats short stays

The consumption tax reform replaces several taxes with CBS (federal) and IBS (states and cities). LC 214/2025 set the rules, LC 227/2026 amended them, and Decree 12.955/2026 regulates CBS. Reported dates are CBS from 2027, IBS rising from 2029 to 2032 and the full system in 2033. Receita Federal stressed in January 2026 that no new charge falls on every host.

The test for individuals

A person becomes a regular CBS and IBS taxpayer on rentals when both of these hold in the prior calendar year (Decree 12.955, art. 382, I):

Rental income above R$ 240,000 (about US$ 44,280), updated by the IPCA inflation index.
More than three distinct properties let.

Everyone else stays with income tax alone on rental income, according to Receita Federal. A second trigger applies within the year when income runs 20% above the limit, which is R$ 288,000 (about US$ 53,137) before indexation. The decree adds "observada a quantidade de imóveis distintos", which reads as keeping the more-than-three-properties test (art. 382, §1, III). Two commentators say otherwise: NetCPA's columnist applies the trigger even to a single property, and one law firm's summary says it applies whatever the number of properties. Their reading doesn't match the decree's text, so ask a tax adviser if you are near the figure.

What a taxpayer pays

A residential let of up to 90 uninterrupted days by a regular taxpayer is taxed under the hotel rules (Decree art. 361 and art. 410). The hotel regime cuts the standard rate by 40% (art. 405). A longer residential lease gets a 70% cut (art. 379, sole paragraph), plus a social reducer of R$ 600 per property per month (art. 377). So the same apartment can pay more under a short-stay model once its owner is in the regime. Portas estimates up to 3.5 times the burden, though that is one outlet's estimate.

Worked cases under the contributor test
Owner	Prior-year figures	Result
One apartment in Lagoa da Conceição	R$ 90,000 of rent	Income tax only
Three apartments in Boa Viagem	R$ 270,000 of rent	Income tax only: three is not more than three
Four apartments in Ponta Negra	R$ 200,000 of rent	Income tax only: income is below the limit
Four apartments in Barra	R$ 260,000 of rent	Regular taxpayer; stays of 90 days or less fall under hotel rules
Two houses, income jumps during the year	R$ 300,000 in the current year	Income tax only on the decree's wording, since two is not more than three; two commentators disagree, as noted above

LC 227/2026 tightened the hotel treatment so that it applies only to someone already a regular taxpayer. One commentator reads art. 21 of LC 214 as a route to treat a habitual supplier as a taxpayer even below these figures, and argues that taxing a let as a hotel service conflicts with the civil nature of a lease. Neither point has been tested. This guide doesn't cover income tax. For that, including withholding for non-residents, go to the guide to tax on rental income. The city tax on the property itself is in the property tax guide.

The Civil Code reform bill

Senate Bill PL 4/2025 would rewrite much of the Civil Code. As CNN Brasil reported its text in April 2025, residents of residential condominiums could not use units for atypical lodging through digital platforms unless the convenção expressly allows it or a meeting approves it. Reports place the change among an owner's duties in art. 1.336. If passed in that form, it would write the May 2026 approach into statute and end the debate about silent clauses.

It is far from law. The Senate's page, checked on 3 November 2026, shows the bill still in progress, with Senator Veneziano Vital do Rêgo as rapporteur and the temporary committee as its last location, dated 16 June 2026. The committee's plan aimed for a vote by July 2026, and this page shows no vote. If the Senate passes it, the Chamber of Deputies still has to review it. Separate bills on platforms have been filed in Congress too. Minister Cueva's dissent pointed to pending bills as the reason courts should wait.

Don't buy on the assumption that Congress will rescue a short-stay plan, or that it will end one. Read what the law says on the day you sign.

Running short stays from abroad

Foreign owners face the same building and tax rules as Brazilians, with a few additions. Rental income is taxed differently for a non-resident, so read the non-resident rental tax guide first. Keep the money trail from your original purchase, explained in the guide to sending money, because you will need it when income or sale proceeds go home.

Appoint someone local. A building fine, a court summons or a city notice goes to the address on file, and art. 1.335, III takes away your vote while you owe money. A procurador can attend the meeting that decides your building's policy, which is the one meeting you can't afford to miss. See the power of attorney guide for the powers to include.

If you are selling a unit that hosts short stays, be careful what you promise. Say what the convenção says and what the minutes show, then let the buyer check. Owners can list for free on the sell page, and buyers can compare markets on the cities page. Rental demand and the fee burden differ a lot between Pipa and Itaim Bibi, but the building question comes first in both.

Questions

Can a condominium in Brazil ban Airbnb?

A clear express ban holds. In REsp 2.121.055 (May 2026) the STJ's Second Section went further: a residential-use clause is enough, and a two-thirds vote is needed to allow stays. The binding answer on residential-use clauses is pending in Tema 1.443.

Is the STJ's May 2026 ruling binding?

No. It guides lower courts and is persuasive. Tema 1.443 will bind them, and related cases are on hold nationwide until it is decided.

How long can a season let last under the Tenancy Law?

Up to 90 days, furnished or not (Law 8.245/1991, art. 48). If the tenant stays over 30 days past the end without objection, the lease is presumed extended indefinitely (art. 50).

Do I have to pay IBS and CBS on my Airbnb income?

Only if you are a regular taxpayer. For individuals, Receita Federal says that takes more than three properties let and over R$ 240,000 of rent a year, both at once. Otherwise only income tax applies.

Does a city have to approve my short let?

It depends on the city. Rio's bill had not been voted as of August 2026. Salvador and Gramado have tax laws reaching short stays. Ask the municipality in writing, and see the condominium guide for the building side.

What is the fine for hosting against building rules?

Up to five times the monthly fee under Civil Code art. 1.336, §2, and ten times for repeated antisocial conduct under art. 1.337.

Can I rent out a São Paulo studio licensed as HIS or HMP on a platform?

Lets of these units must go to families within income limits, at rent up to 30% of their income. Removal of 1,625 listings began on 3 August 2026.

Does the new Civil Code bill ban Airbnb?

PL 4/2025 as reported would bar atypical lodging through platforms in residential condominiums unless allowed by the convenção or a meeting. It is still in a Senate committee and is not law.

Sources

Written by Lucas Andrade. Updated November 2026. General information, not legal, tax or investment advice. Ask a Brazilian lawyer about your own case.