You read your condominium’s bylaws, find no express ban on short-term rentals, and conclude you can list the property on Airbnb without a problem. That is exactly the reasoning Brazil’s Superior Court of Justice (the STJ, the country’s highest court for non-constitutional matters) has just reversed.
In May 2026, the STJ’s Second Section unified the court’s position on the matter: renting through platforms like Airbnb in a residential condominium does not depend on whether the bylaws ban it. Without explicit approval, the activity is prohibited from the start.
This guide explains what changed, why the STJ treats this as a different use from simply renting, and what to do before putting, or keeping, a property in this kind of operation.
Photo: Tobias Wilden via Unsplash
What the STJ Decided in 2026
The ruling
The decision came in Special Appeal REsp 2.121.055, judged by the STJ’s Second Section on May 7, 2026, with Justice Nancy Andrighi as the reporting justice. The Second Section brings together the court’s two private-law panels, which gives the decision the weight of guidance for the entire STJ, not just for a single panel.
The court classified the contract brokered by platforms like Airbnb as an atypical contract. It is not a seasonal rental, which assumes a formal contract with a specific tenant for a set term. Nor is it hotel-style lodging, provided by someone already operating commercially for that purpose. It is a third category, marked by high turnover and by making the property available in fragments to people who are strangers to one another.
What courts had already been deciding
The 2026 decision did not come out of nowhere. Back in 2021, the STJ’s Fourth Panel had already ruled that residential condominiums can prevent units from being used for Airbnb rentals. The Second Section unified that position in 2026, ending the disagreements that still surfaced in rulings by state courts.
Why It Counts as “Atypical Use”
The legal basis
Two articles of the Brazilian Civil Code support the decision. Article 1,336, item IV, establishes that every unit owner has a duty to give their unit the same designated use as the building. Article 1,351 adds to it: changing that designated use requires approval from two-thirds of the owners.
If the condominium is residential, renting short-term on a recurring, professionalized basis effectively changes the unit’s designated use, even if the owner keeps living there when not hosting guests.
What makes a use “atypical”
The platform itself is not what defines the problem, and the STJ made that clear in the ruling. What matters is the pattern of use: guests who do not know one another, quick and constant turnover, an arrangement that looks more like lodging than like housing. A traditional seasonal rental, with a single tenant and a set term, does not fall into this category.
Silent Bylaws Are Not a Green Light
Here is where most owners get it wrong. The common reading is: “the bylaws don’t ban it, so I can rent.” The STJ decided the opposite. In a residential condominium, atypical use is already prohibited by default, and silence in the bylaws does not authorize the activity. Explicit approval is required, at an owners’ meeting, by two-thirds of the owners.
In practice, this shifts the burden. Before 2026, anyone who wanted to ban Airbnb had to approve an express prohibition. Now, anyone who wants to rent this way has to approve an express authorization. If no owners’ meeting has ever discussed the subject, the activity is irregular, even without a single written clause prohibiting it.
The Bylaws Are Not the House Rules
Condominium bylaws (convenção)
The bylaws (convenção) are the condominium’s supreme rule. They cover its structure, its designated use, and the general rules of operation, functioning as a kind of constitution for the building. This is where the question of atypical use has to be addressed, whether to ban it or to authorize it. Amending them requires approval from two-thirds of all owners.
House rules (regimento interno)
The house rules (regimento interno) are something else: a code of conduct with day-to-day rules such as quiet hours, use of common areas, and how visitors circulate. The quorum to change them is whatever the bylaws set. If the bylaws are silent, a simple majority of those present at a second call applies.
The hierarchy matters. Federal, state, and municipal laws sit above the bylaws, which sit above the house rules. The house rules cannot, on their own, authorize or ban atypical use: that decision belongs to the bylaws.
The Power to Enforce: How the Fine Works
Photo: Sebastian Herrmann via Unsplash
Approving or banning atypical use in the bylaws has no practical effect if the condominium cannot impose a penalty on whoever breaks the rule. For that, the Brazilian Civil Code provides for two levels of fine.
Fine for a violation
The first level is in Article 1,336, paragraph 2: it covers a breach of the owner’s duties, among them the duty to maintain the unit’s designated use. The fine has to be provided for in the founding instrument or in the bylaws, capped at five times the monthly condominium fee. If the bylaws are silent on the amount, it falls to the general meeting, by at least two-thirds of the remaining owners, to decide on the charge.
Fine for repeat violations
Article 1,337, in turn, covers a more serious scenario: the owner who breaches their duties repeatedly. In that case, the meeting can impose an additional fine, of up to five times the monthly fee, by a vote of three-quarters of the remaining owners, according to the severity and repetition of the offense. This fine is added to the one under Article 1,336; it does not replace it.
The Building’s Profile Changes the Outcome in Practice
What the law allows is one thing. What actually happens inside each condominium is another, and that distinction comes from watching the market directly, not from case law.
Buildings with a mostly family profile tend to generate more resistance and more disputes around Airbnb, because the activity clashes with the use the other residents expect from the building. In condominiums where short-term rental is already an established practice, sometimes for years, the topic usually creates far less friction, even without a recent formal approval at a meeting.
This does not replace the legal requirement for approval. But it helps explain why the same activity can be untroubled in one building and turn into a lawsuit in another.
Before You Decide, a Specialized Lawyer
The combination of what the bylaws say, what the house rules say, and the condominium’s real history changes from building to building. It is not something a generic rule can settle.
Before buying a property with Airbnb in mind, or continuing to operate one that is already in this activity without formal approval, it is worth consulting a lawyer who specializes in Brazilian real estate and condominium law, someone who can review your building’s specific bylaws and the real risk involved.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a condo ban Airbnb?
Yes, and since the STJ’s 2026 ruling the practical rule has become even stricter: even without an express ban in the bylaws, using a property for short-term rentals through platforms like Airbnb is treated as prohibited by default in a residential condominium, unless two-thirds of the owners have explicitly approved it.
Do silent bylaws allow short-term rentals?
No, according to the position the STJ settled in 2026. Before that unification, some interpreted the bylaws’ silence as permission. The court decided the opposite: silence does not authorize the activity; explicit approval at an owners’ meeting is required.
What quorum is needed to approve atypical use?
Two-thirds of the owners, under Article 1,351 of the Brazilian Civil Code, since authorizing short-term rentals is equivalent to changing the unit’s designated use within a residential condominium.
What is the difference between the bylaws and the house rules?
The bylaws (convenção) are the condominium’s supreme rule; they cover its structure and designated use and can only be changed by two-thirds of the owners. The house rules (regimento interno) govern day-to-day life, such as quiet hours and use of common areas, and their amendment quorum is set by the bylaws themselves.
Can the condominium fine owners who already rent without authorization?
Yes. Article 1,336, paragraph 2, of the Brazilian Civil Code provides for a fine of up to five times the monthly condominium fee for anyone who breaches the duty to maintain the unit’s designated use. In the case of repeat violations, Article 1,337 allows an additional fine of up to five times, approved by three-quarters of the owners.
What to Do With This Information
If you already have a property operating on Airbnb, the first step is simple: check whether any owners’ meeting has formally approved the activity, by two-thirds of the owners. If it has not, the operation is more exposed than it looked, even if the bylaws never said a word about the subject.
If you are thinking of buying a property with this use in mind, the condominium’s history counts as much as the written bylaws. It is worth talking to people who already live there, or to an advisor who knows the building, before closing the deal.
Regente follows this legal layer closely, the one that usually goes unnoticed at the moment of purchase. If you want to understand how it applies to your situation, talk to one of our advisors.
