Homestay Registration in Tamil Nadu: The Rules, and the Sealing Campaign

By Priya Nair-Santos · Lifestyle & Luxury, Goa · September 2026

What the court ordered

The Madras High Court directed the state to act against homestay and cottage operators running without valid licences in the Nilgiris and in Kodaikanal, and ordered the closure of establishments operating in violation of the law. To make that stick, it required district-level committees in the Nilgiris and in Dindigul, the district containing Kodaikanal.

Each committee pairs the District Revenue Officer, the Municipal Commissioner and the District Tourism Officer. That combination matters: it puts revenue records, building approvals and tourism registration in the same room. An operator can no longer be compliant with one and invisible to the others.

Homestay or bed & breakfast

Tamil Nadu splits the two by size, and the split decides which scheme you register under.

The minimum is one room with two beds; the ceiling is six rooms and twelve beds. The property must be a permanent residential structure, and must meet prescribed safety and hygiene standards.

The condition that stops most second-home buyers

If you are a Bengaluru or Mumbai buyer who has bought a cottage in Coonoor intending to let it when you are not using it, the residency condition and the owner-on-site requirement together are a serious obstacle. They are not a licensing technicality; they go to whether the scheme is available to you at all.

Establish that point with the District Tourism Office before you buy, not after. Given what the committees are currently doing, an unregistered letting operation in the Nilgiris is not a risk that sits quietly in the background.

The reporting obligation is heavier than neighbouring states

Registered establishments must keep a Tourist Register recording every guest — arrival and departure dates, names, nationalities and passport numbers — and submit it monthly to the local police station and the District Tourism Office.

Karnataka requires a register and reporting of foreign guests; Tamil Nadu requires a monthly return to two authorities covering everyone. If you let through an agent or a platform, establish now who is actually compiling and filing that return, because the obligation sits with the establishment.

What we could not verify

We could not obtain the department’s current guidelines document from an official source — the URL that hosted it no longer resolves — and we are therefore not publishing a registration fee. Figures circulating online in the region of ₹28,000 to ₹30,000 appear on the sites of commercial filing agents and look like service charges rather than government fees. Treat them as such until your District Tourism Office tells you otherwise.

Ask the District Tourism Office for: the current fee and category structure, the validity period and renewal cycle, and confirmation of the residency condition as it applies to your situation. If a reader obtains the current guidelines document, we would like a copy.

The series

This completes our state-by-state coverage of homestay registration alongside Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra. The pattern across states is consistent: the rules tightened, registration became compulsory, and enforcement arrived later and harder than owners expected.

Sources

• Madras High Court directions on unauthorised homestays and cottages in the Nilgiris and Kodaikanal, and the district committees constituted under them.
• Nilgiris district administration enforcement data: 854 properties identified, 23 sealed, 28 slated for closure.
• Tamil Nadu Department of Tourism scheme for registration of Bed & Breakfast and Homestay establishments; Tamil Nadu Tourism Policy 2021.

This is journalism, not legal advice. Registration requirements and fees are set by the Department of Tourism and change. Confirm your position with the District Tourism Office before letting, and before buying if you intend to let.