In recent years, the global and national property market has undergone a profound revolution driven by the consolidation of the sharing economy and the advance of digital app-based hosting platforms. The traditional residential letting model, characterised by long-term contracts backed by complex guarantees, has increasingly shared space with the flexibility and financial appeal of short-term letting. The Airbnb platform has become the leading protagonist of this cultural and economic transformation, enabling flat owners to turn their units into highly profitable assets. However, the accelerated growth of this type of hosting has had immediate repercussions for the day-to-day administration and legal certainty of thousands of urban condominiums right across the country.

The continuous arrival of rotating guests alters the internal dynamics and social life of shared residential buildings, sparking heated debates and dividing opinion between long-term residents and property investors. While owners who use Airbnb legitimately defend their property rights and their freedom to make the most of their flats to achieve maximum financial return, traditional residents frequently raise concerns about the loss of privacy, increased noise in communal areas and, above all, the weakening of internal security caused by the movement of strangers through the building. Faced with this evident clash of interests, the building manager is left with the complex and unavoidable task of drafting regulations that protect the community without stifling the rights of investors who are counting on the condominium's economic growth.

Managing the coexistence of these two groups requires the property manager to adopt a technical, empathetic, transparent approach that is entirely free of personal favouritism. Ignoring the rise of short-term lets, or attempting to ban the activity arbitrarily without proper legal and institutional backing, is a serious governance mistake that tends to result in lengthy, costly legal battles paid for out of the condominium's shared funds. The safest and smartest route for contemporary management is balanced regulation through clear internal rules written into the bylaws, showing that Airbnb can coexist peacefully, safely and harmoniously in modern condominiums, provided that everyone involved strictly observes the limits and duties set out for community living.

What Brazilian law says about letting through Airbnb

To run an effective regulatory process free of the risk of legal challenges, the building manager and the condominium's advisory board need to understand the legal landscape governing short-term lets in Brazil. The primary national legislation governing the residential lettings market is the Tenancy Law (Law No. 8,245/1991), which explicitly provides for short-term residential lets for a maximum period of up to ninety days. However, the emergence of modern technology platforms such as Airbnb has created new operational and commercial nuances that have challenged the traditional interpretation of the courts, dividing opinion among legal scholars and judges over whether this type of hosting in condominiums is commercial or residential in nature.

The legal landscape gained definitive clarity and certainty following landmark rulings handed down by the Superior Court of Justice (STJ). The settled understanding of the higher court establishes that letting residential properties for very short periods through apps such as Airbnb has characteristics that closely resemble commercial hospitality activity, affecting the strictly residential and family purpose set out in most condominium bylaws. The STJ's case law has firmly ruled that general assemblies of residents have full legal autonomy to restrict, or even ban, the practice of short-term letting in individual units, provided that this resolution is approved in line with the specific quorums and internal rules in force.

This sovereignty of the general assembly means that the building manager has in hand the legal tools needed to organise and regulate the use of Airbnb in line with the sovereign will of the majority of owners. If the community of residents chooses to allow short-term letting to attract investors, management must draft compliance rules that mitigate risk and protect shared assets. On the other hand, should the community decide on a total ban on the practice owing to the building's traditional family profile, that restriction must be formalised through an amendment to the bylaws, ensuring that the condominium acts in full accordance with Brazilian civil law and steers clear of legal liabilities arising from the lack of explicit rules.

Advantages and disadvantages of opening the doors to short-term lets

Deciding whether to allow or restrict short-term letting at a general assembly requires the community of owners to weigh up, carefully and rationally, both sides of the property coin, considering the practical impact the Airbnb model will have on the building's financial health and on families' day-to-day life together. This is a highly complex strategic decision that changes the profile of use of communal areas and directly influences the market liquidity of private units, requiring the manager to present clear, informative data to support internal votes on new regulations and institutional rules in urban high-rise condominiums.

For investors and owners seeking a return, opening the building up to short-term letting platforms represents a strong market draw, boosting demand for flat purchases and speeding up the turnover of capital in the area. However, for traditional residents who value peace and quiet, the constant flow of unfamiliar people can cause dissatisfaction and put a strain on the building's infrastructure. Without the strict enforcement of house rules, the presence of Airbnb guests can clash with permanent residents' right to peace, security and privacy.

A careful look at the pros and cons helps to defuse impassioned arguments and focuses the debate on what is technically feasible for the building's collective future. To guide decision-making at board meetings and to lay the groundwork for future internal rules, we can list the main advantages and disadvantages that drive discussions about short-term letting in modern condominiums:

• Advantage: Attracting qualified property investors, raising the market value per square metre and the liquidity of units in the condominium;

• Advantage: A sharp reduction in chronic default rates, since owners who profit from Airbnb tend to keep their service charges up to date;

• Disadvantage: A significant increase in the flow of strangers passing through lifts and lobbies, challenging the condominium's security;

• Disadvantage: Premature, accelerated wear and tear on equipment and shared leisure areas due to heavy use by Airbnb guests;

• Disadvantage: A heightened risk of guests unintentionally breaching noise rules simply through unfamiliarity with the condominium's house rules.

Situations that cause everyday conflicts in shared leisure areas

The lack of explicit regulation and clear enforcement rules for the use of hosting apps such as Airbnb tends to turn communal and leisure areas into genuine stages for heated arguments, misunderstandings and chronic neighbourhood conflicts. Temporary guests, being on holiday, sightseeing or a leisure trip, adopt a lifestyle and behavioural schedule that often clashes head-on with the work, rest and downtime routines of the permanent resident families who share the condominium's infrastructure.

One of the most recurring sources of friction and formal complaints at the front desk concerns the improper or excessive use of exclusive, high-value spaces, such as the swimming pool, the gym, the sports courts and the shared barbecue areas of the condominium. Temporary Airbnb users often are unaware of the operating hours set out in the house rules, or invite outside guests to the building to join private gatherings in these communal facilities, overcrowding the physical infrastructure and depriving permanent residents of their right to enjoy leisure time in peace, generating conflicts that call for strict rules.

Another critical source of behavioural risk relates to check-in and check-out traffic at inappropriate times or during night-time quiet hours in the building's circulation areas. The noisy dragging of wheeled suitcases through residential corridors, loud conversations in social lobbies in the small hours and the improper use of parking spaces by visiting drivers' vehicles all generate a steady stream of complaints to management. The building manager must map out these recurring conflict situations in order to design effective preventive rules that place clear limits on Airbnb guests, ensuring that the turnover of tourists does not destroy the social peace and community harmony that should prevail in healthy condominiums.

How to draft effective internal rules in the condominium bylaws

To restore peace to the residential environment and ensure that the presence of short-term guests does not spiral into administrative disorder or organic security risks, the building manager must lead the process of updating the bylaws with specific rules aimed at letting via Airbnb. The house rules must be drafted clearly, objectively and in detail, serving as the main conduct and legal compliance manual to guide the actions of hosts, doorstaff and temporary users arriving at the condominium.

The updated bylaws should establish it as a non-transferable obligation of the host owner to complete a full digital pre-registration of all Airbnb guests with the building management office at least twenty-four hours before visitors arrive at the building. This document must contain each occupant's full name, identity document number, an up-to-date photograph and the exact length of stay in the flat. Without this prior electronic submission of data, the front desk is strictly forbidden from granting any person access to the communal areas, rigorously complying with the screening and asset-protection rules in force in smart condominiums.

The house rules should also provide for heavy, immediate financial penalties applied directly to the property owner's service charge in the event of infractions committed by their temporary tenants. The investor who profits from Airbnb must be held civilly and administratively liable for the actions of anyone they allow into the building. To build a safe environment with full regulatory compliance for short-term letting, the new wording approved by the assembly to update the condominium's house rules should contain the following essential golden rules:

• A requirement to submit in advance the list of registration details and documents for all Airbnb guests to the condominium office;

• An explicit cap on the maximum number of simultaneous occupants allowed per flat type, preventing overcrowding of the building;

• Restriction or prohibition of the use of premium leisure areas, such as gyms and swimming pools, by outside guests of Airbnb visitors;

• Mandatory delivery of a summarised copy of the condominium's house rules on noise and quiet hours to tourists at check-in;

• Immediate, escalating fines for the host owner in cases of vandalism, noise or disrespect towards condominium staff.

Strategic communication: How to talk to residents and investors

The success of implementing new regulatory guidelines and control rules for short-term letting depends fundamentally on the strategic communication skills the building manager shows in mediating between permanent residents and investors using platforms such as Airbnb. The property manager must avoid the trap of adopting a purely punitive or defensive tone when drafting official notices, instead investing in transparent channels aimed at defusing the cultural polarisation that has taken hold in the condominium.

When speaking with permanent residents who express fear about the presence of Airbnb guests, management's communication should focus on presenting the organic security technology and screening protocols put in place to mitigate peripheral risks. Clearly showing that the front desk has full control over registration data and that there are strict punitive rules to curb noise restores the sense of calm and comfort that families seek in their homes within well-run condominiums, defusing complaints rooted in generic prejudice against tourists.

On the other hand, dialogue with investor owners should be framed around business compliance and the market value of their own properties. The building manager must clearly demonstrate that the strict enforcement of access control and noise limit rules protects the reputation of the investor's own Airbnb listing, preventing the flat from being associated with mess or complaints that generate negative reviews online. When investors understand that internal order preserves the long-term profitability of the short-let business, they start acting as allies of management in enforcing and upholding the condominium's collective rules.

Types of buildings where this type of letting is not worthwhile

Although the flexibility of digital hosting platforms such as Airbnb represents an irresistible global trend of property modernisation for many urban investors, certain behavioural and architectural building profiles exist where allowing this type of short-term letting brings far more operational drawbacks and coexistence risks than genuine financial benefits for the community. The building manager must assess the size and infrastructure of the building to advise the assembly on the technical feasibility of adopting or vetting the practice in different types of condominiums.

The first type of building where allowing short-term letting tends to cause serious administrative crises are gated horizontal housing developments or large, strictly family-oriented high-rise buildings with low automation that rely exclusively on the manual work of physical doorstaff to carry out screening. In these traditional buildings, the high turnover of Airbnb guests overburdens front-desk staff, who spend hours completing complex tourist registrations and handing out keys, neglecting perimeter surveillance of the boundary walls and putting at risk the organic security of resident families who demand strict compliance with the rules.

Another property scenario unfavourable to the short-let model involves older residential buildings with limited leisure and plumbing infrastructure that are already operating close to their daily technical capacity. Buildings with old passenger lifts, tight garages that are difficult to manoeuvre in, or small-volume water tanks undergo accelerated wear and tear when subjected to a continuous flow of Airbnb guests, driving up emergency corrective maintenance costs charged to the ordinary fund. To protect shared assets against operational collapse and avoid serious neighbourhood friction, the following practical indicators signal that a building should not allow short-term letting under its rules:

• Strictly residential buildings with a demographic profile made up mainly of elderly people and traditional families with young children;

• Buildings that lack modern automated electronic entry systems or biometric access control to process tourists' data;

• Condominiums with severe restrictions on shared parking spaces that require complex manoeuvring and the use of residents' keys;

• Older building infrastructure with a recurring history of plumbing problems or mechanical lifts that suffer from heavy-use fatigue;

• Luxury residential developments with high demands for perimeter privacy, where the movement of Airbnb strangers breaches compliance rules.

NewSun Energy: Clean energy subscription and budget predictability

While the building's management committee focuses all its efforts and energy on mediating disputes between neighbours, organising general assemblies in a peaceful and democratic manner and devising informative strategies to implement effective rules for short-term letting via platforms such as Airbnb, the building manager also needs to demonstrate corporate competence in the long-term financial management of the shared accounts. The intense turnover of tourists and seasonal guests has a direct, ongoing economic impact on the technical infrastructure of communal areas: passenger and service lifts run far more often throughout the day, automated garage gates open and close twice as frequently to let through app-based drivers, and LED lighting systems and swimming pool pump filtration run at maximum capacity over holidays and long weekends, driving up the condominium's overall electricity consumption. To optimise these fixed electricity costs with complete financial sustainability and accounting intelligence, NewSun Energy Group offers an innovative clean energy subscription model designed specifically for the residential market.

The clean energy subscription developed by NewSun is the perfect intelligent solution for managers looking to cut fixed operating costs in shared areas in a way that is fully sustainable, hassle-free and modern, without the building needing to make large upfront investments in complex civil works or install expensive solar panels on the roofs of residential towers. By joining this 100% renewable supply system, the building starts consuming clean electricity while getting direct, guaranteed discounts on its regular electricity bill, comfortably absorbing the rise in electricity consumption driven by the turnover of Airbnb guests. The great advantage of this innovative solution is that it eliminates budget uncertainty and fully shields the shared electricity bill from the severe impact of tariff-band fluctuations during dry-season months, delivering progressive, sustainable savings throughout the contract period in line with the financial planning of well-run condominiums.

In addition to the real financial and environmental advantages guaranteed by the brand's clean energy subscription, NewSun Energy Group stands out on the national scene by offering genuinely human, approachable, responsive service focused on making life easier for building managers and management companies. The building's management also gains exclusive access to the NewSun Energy Club, a modern analytics monitoring tool designed for detailed, transparent, real-time tracking of the building's entire electricity consumption and spending profile. Through NewSun Energy Club technology, the manager controls electricity indicators right from their smartphone, combining digital innovation with practical sustainability to boost the financial health of the shared accounts, freeing up valuable resources for ongoing investment in modernising security lodges, staff training and enforcing all the internal rules soundly approved for the best possible coexistence for everyone in the condominium.

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Security and access control: Practical monitoring tools

Preserving organic perimeter security is the strongest argument used by traditional residents who demand the restriction or total ban of short-term hosting apps such as Airbnb at building assemblies. To ease this legitimate fear among families and ensure that tourist turnover does not weaken the physical defences of the front desk, building management should invest in modernising access control technology, eliminating human procedural failures through the strict application of digital integrated monitoring rules in modern high-rise condominiums.

The first essential practical tool for securing entrances is replacing physical metal keys with smart electronic digital-code lock systems installed on the doors of units used for Airbnb. The investor owner can generate unique, temporary numeric access codes for each guest directly from their smartphone, programming the code to expire automatically at the exact check-out deadline set for the tourist. This simple piece of technology prevents unauthorised copies of keys or fobs from circulating on the black market outside, raising protection levels and ensuring compliance with the condominium's asset-security rules.

In addition to private electronic digital locks, the building's administration should integrate the front desk's facial readers with analytics software that instantly cross-checks the registration data submitted in advance by hosts. Airbnb guests only have their entry into communal areas approved if their face matches the identity document image stored in the reception's database. To guide the front desk's technological transition and build an impenetrable protective barrier against unwanted intrusions, the building management's executive team should adopt the following electronic perimeter monitoring tools and technologies:

• High-definition facial biometric readers installed at every pedestrian airlock and access point at the condominium's front desk;

• Wi-Fi electronic digital locks that generate temporary, single-use passcodes for Airbnb guests;

• AI-powered CCTV analytics cameras for monitoring movement in the building's access corridors;

• Integrated building control apps where the host owner uploads tourists' data and documents;

• Encrypted, personal-use-only proximity fobs for releasing vehicle entry gates in condominiums.

Mediation and compliance: The building manager's role in balancing interests

Governing a diverse shared residential building requires the building manager to take a firm stance on enforcement and regulatory compliance when applying the administrative penalties arising from infractions committed by temporary users of short-let hosting platforms such as Airbnb. The property manager must act as an impartial mediator of community disputes, making it clear to all residents that the house rules and coexistence rules soundly approved at the general assembly carry binding legal force and must be observed equally by permanent residents and tourists alike in every condominium.

When an Airbnb guest breaches the building's quiet hours, damages furniture in the games room or behaves aggressively in the lifts, front-desk staff must immediately log the detailed occurrence, complete with photos and a noise-level reading, in the building's official log. The formal notice and the corresponding fine set out in the house rules must be issued on the following business day and charged exclusively to the affected unit's owner's service charge bill. The investor must understand that the financial upside of short-term letting comes hand in hand with the responsibility of ensuring the condominium's rules are upheld.

This strict civil liability placed on the host owner is the most effective mechanism management has to push investors into carefully vetting the guest profiles they accept for their Airbnb listings. When an owner realises that their temporary guests' carelessness results in severe financial penalties and the loss of the short-letting rights approved in the minutes, they start acting as an active enforcer of the collective rules, briefing tourists rigorously before check-in. The firm mediation carried out by the building manager calms neighbourhood disputes, protects the integrity of the building's staff and builds an ethical residential environment, safe, thriving and balanced in smart condominiums.

Balanced governance built for the smart condominium

Successfully completing the administrative regulation of app-based hosting platforms such as Airbnb demonstrates the maturity, technical efficiency and ethical commitment of the governance led by the current building manager. Striking a balance between allowing owners to invest in and profit from their own properties and non-negotiably guaranteeing social peace, quiet, privacy and security for permanent resident families is the hallmark of a modern, high-performing property administration connected to the future of Brazil's urban high-rise shared housing in forward-thinking condominiums.

Having clear internal rules, kept up to date through open, democratic debate at general assemblies, serves as the main pillar of legal support so that short-term letting can take place in an environment of complete civility, transparency and mutual respect for neighbours. When investors actively cooperate with the maintenance team in following front-desk access control protocols and residents see that technology shields the building's perimeter defences, behavioural conflicts disappear and the Airbnb model comes to be seen as a driver of market value growth for the whole condominium.

By pairing the impeccable organisation of shared leisure areas with the pursuit of innovative sustainability and tariff-optimisation solutions for the building's shared ordinary fund, such as the smart clean, renewable energy subscription model offered by NewSun Energy Group and tracked through the NewSun Energy Club tool, the condominium manager builds an exemplary, financially balanced administration. Championing economic progress and property technology innovation under the banner of administrative order and collective respect is the definitive formula for building a harmonious, safe, sustainable and pleasant residential community to live in throughout every season of the year within modern condominiums.