1) Bharath Bhaskar, Co-founder Settl. a Coliving operator

In recent years, the GST on residential dwellings has been a grey area. This new notification clarifies that hostels and accommodations for working professionals are exempt from GST within certain limits.

This provides much-needed clarity for operators. However, in the long term, these should be classified as residential dwellings, thereby exempting them from GST without any limits.This change would reduce the burden on end customers, allowing them to save money on rentals.

There is still ambiguity regarding the GST paid to landlords on a reverse charge mechanism (RCM) for supplies taken by operators, which is unsustainable given the margins the operators make. Moving these rentals to an inclusive GST model would help operators survive and the market should change in this direction.

2) Sunny Garg, Co-founder, Crib

The GST council‘s recommendation to exempt GST on accommodation services charging up to Rs. 20,000 per month per person is a welcome move. This will benefit a large number of co-living companies, especially those in student housing segment, where monthly charges typically fall below this threshold across the country. Additionally, the eligibility condition requiring that the accommodation service be supplied for a minimum continuous period of 90 days can be easily met in the case of student co-living arrangements and hostels, which usually have longer lease or stay durations.