Short answer: as of 2026 there is no single "homestay licence" you can apply for in Johor Bahru. MOTAC stopped accepting short-term rental (STRA) registrations in February 2020, the national STRA guideline is still working its way through Cabinet and has not been rolled out to local councils, and the thing that actually decides whether you can operate is your building's JMB/MC house rules. Below: the three layers, what to prepare for each, and how we handle it across the 100-plus units we manage.
Disclaimer: this is a general summary as of October 2026, not legal advice. Licensing, tax and building rules change; confirm with MBJB/MBIP, your building management or a lawyer before you commit money.
Do you actually need a licence to run a homestay in JB?
Think of it as three gates. You need to pass all three, and clearing one does not clear the others:
| Gate | Who controls it | Status in 2026 | What happens if you skip it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Building house rules | JMB / MC (your building's management body) | Enforced today, and the Federal Court has confirmed they can ban short stays | Access cards disabled, fines, guests refused at the lobby, or a building-wide ban |
| 2. Local council licence (PBT) | MBJB (JB city), MBIP (Iskandar Puteri), MPPG (Pasir Gudang) and others | National STRA guideline not yet in force; no condo short-stay licence exists in JB to apply for | Once the guideline lands, unlicensed units can be shut down; today enforcement is complaint-driven |
| 3. Federal registration and tax | MOTAC, LHDN (income tax), Customs (tourism tax) | MOTAC STRA registration closed; income is still taxable; tourism tax applies to foreign guests | Back taxes plus penalties |
Most articles online only cover gates 2 and 3. In our experience managing 100-plus units, when a unit cannot be run as a homestay, eight times out of ten it is gate 1.
Do I still need to register with MySTRA / MOTAC?
No, because it no longer exists. MOTAC stopped registering Short-Term Residential Accommodation on 15 February 2020. If you search "MySTRA registration" today, most of what you find was written around 2019.
What MOTAC still handles is the Program Pengalaman Homestay Malaysia, the community programme where tourists stay with a village host family. A condo listed on Airbnb, Agoda or Booking.com is not part of that programme and cannot be registered under it.
This matters because some "licence agents" still charge owners to "arrange MOTAC registration". In 2026, that registration cannot be obtained.
What is the national STRA guideline and when does it start?
The Ministry of Housing and Local Government (KPKT), through PLANMalaysia, began drafting a national planning guideline for short-term residential accommodation in early 2024. Public consultation closed in September 2024. The guideline then goes to Cabinet, then to the National Council for Local Government, and only after that do individual states and councils adopt it.
The direction, according to the Housing Minister in November 2025:
- Covers residential lets of under six months
- Defines which categories of residential premises may be used for short stays
- Requires hosts to register and obtain a licence from their local council
- Sets safety requirements (fire safety, guest registration), length-of-stay controls and enforcement powers
As of October 2026 this guideline has not been implemented in Johor Bahru. In plain terms: MBJB and MBIP do not currently have a "condo short-stay licence" form for you to fill in. We checked MBJB's current licensing guidelines; what exists covers converting shop-lots into budget hotels, which does not apply to condo units.
So the right move now is to be ready, not to apply. When the licence opens, owners who already have SSM registration, fire equipment and guest records will be first through the door.
Why are building rules the real gate?
In 2020 the Federal Court ruled in Innab Salil v Verve Suites Mont' Kiara Management Corporation that a management corporation may pass house rules prohibiting short-term rentals, and that doing so does not breach Section 70(5) of the Strata Management Act 2013. The reasoning: a short-stay guest holds a licence to occupy, not a tenancy, so the restriction on by-laws that interfere with "dealings" in a parcel does not apply.
What this means in practice:
- Even if the government later issues you a licence, your building can still say no.
- House rules are passed by owners at the AGM. If enough owners vote against short stays, that is the end of it.
- Management can enforce by disabling access cards, issuing fines or refusing guest registration. They do not need a court order.
In Johor Bahru this plays out street by street: two towers in the same neighbourhood, one welcomes homestays and the other bans them outright. Before we take on an owner's unit, the first thing we do is not look at the renovation. We go to the management office and ask four questions:
- Do the house rules mention short-term or daily rental?
- Do guests need to be registered, and is there a fee?
- Are there limits on access cards for guests (number, deposit)?
- Is there any motion to ban short stays coming up at the next AGM?
Get the answers before signing a management agreement. The worst outcome is spending on renovation, listing the unit, and being told to stop in month one.
What can you set up now?
Nothing below depends on the guideline's timing, and most of it you should already have:
| Item | Needed now? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| SSM business registration | Recommended if you run several units as a business | One self-occupied unit rented occasionally can go without; three or more units with cleaners and receipts will be treated as business income, and SSM keeps that clean |
| Income tax (LHDN) | Mandatory | Short-stay income is taxable; at scale, with services provided (cleaning, check-in), it is business income rather than rental income |
| Tourism tax (TTx) | Depends on guests | RM10 per room per night for non-Malaysian guests; for bookings via Airbnb or Agoda the platforms have collected and remitted it since 2023; for direct bookings the operator is responsible |
| Fire safety | Recommended | Extinguisher, smoke detector, exit signage. Safety is central to the draft guideline; fitting it now is cheaper than retrofitting |
| Guest identity records | Recommended | Keep ID records for every guest. The draft guideline expects it, and it is the only evidence you have when a guest damages the unit |
| Written consent from building management | Mandatory | A verbal "no problem" is not consent. Get it in writing or at least on email |
| Insurance | Recommended | Standard home policies usually exclude commercial short stays; add a short-stay endorsement or buy host cover |
What is the real risk of not doing this?
Honestly: in 2026 we have not seen a JB unit shut down purely for "not having a licence", because the licence does not yet exist. The trouble comes from three places:
- Building complaints. A neighbour complains about noise or strangers in the lift, management checks the house rules, and one letter ends it. This is by far the most common.
- Tax. LHDN can obtain platform data from Airbnb and Agoda. Several years unreported means back tax plus penalties that can be a large share of that year's income.
- Uninsured incidents. A guest injury or a fire, and the insurer declines because the unit was used for short stays.
Our order of priority for owners: sort the building first, then tax, then insurance, then wait for the licence.
Will a management company handle this for you?
To be clear about what we do and do not do:
We do: check house rules with the management office before you sign; set up the guest registration process with them; run eKYC identity verification on every guest and keep the records; fit fire equipment to a checklist; send monthly statements you can use for tax; and, when the council licence opens, prepare the application documents for you.
We do not: file your tax return (that is you or your accountant; we supply the numbers); decide for you whether to register an SSM; or guarantee your building will never change its rules (we cannot control an AGM vote).
Of the three gates, we stand in front of gate 1, prepare you for gate 2, and give you the data for gate 3.
If you want to know whether your building allows it and what a unit there could earn, leave the unit details at /ownerenquiry and we will check the house rules before we talk about revenue share. You can also read one owner's real monthly statement for 10 units or compare self-managing on Airbnb versus using a management company.