Ongoing instability at the National Student Financial Aid Scheme is placing growing financial pressure on landlords and student accommodation providers across South Africa, with industry bodies warning that the situation is becoming unsustainable.
Earlier this month, Higher Education and Training Minister Buti Manamela placed NSFAS under administration following what he described as persistent governance failures, legal concerns, and operational weaknesses within the institution.
The decision was announced during a media briefing, where Manamela said the intervention was made in terms of the NSFAS Act after considering the organisation’s legal, financial, governance, and operational challenges.
As part of the intervention, Professor Hlengani Mathebula was appointed as administrator to oversee the institution.
The move has sparked concern within the student accommodation sector, particularly among landlords who depend on timely NSFAS payments to sustain operations.
South African National Student Accommodation Association chairperson Duncan Monks said accommodation providers have repeatedly heard promises of reform and improved payment systems whenever new leadership structures are introduced at NSFAS.
However, he said landlords continue to face delayed payments, unresolved reconciliation issues, missing remittance advice, and uncertainty around rental rates.
According to SANSAA, which represents affiliates linked to roughly 300,000 student beds nationwide, this marks the third time NSFAS has been placed under administration since 2018.
The association warned that repeated short-term interventions are failing to address the deeper structural problems affecting the institution.
SANSAA also expressed concern over increasing reports of student accommodation providers, particularly in the City of Tshwane and other parts of the country, facing electricity disconnections due to unpaid municipal accounts.
The organisation said these disruptions reflect the severe financial strain landlords are currently under as they continue to absorb rising operational costs while waiting for delayed NSFAS payments.
Accommodation providers are reportedly dealing with increasing electricity tariffs, water charges, security costs, maintenance expenses, interest rates, and general operational overheads, while the 2026 NSFAS rental rates remain unresolved.
Industry representatives warn that many landlords may soon struggle to continue operating under the current conditions.
SANSAA said the impact of the crisis ultimately falls on students, with electricity outages, deferred maintenance, service interruptions, and deteriorating living conditions affecting the quality and safety of accommodation.
The association has called on the administrator and the Department of Higher Education and Training to urgently address several key issues, including finalising the 2026 accommodation rental rates, settling outstanding landlord payments, improving invoice reconciliation systems, and engaging directly with accommodation associations.
It also called for long-term reforms that would remove student accommodation management from what it described as NSFAS’s unstable operating environment.
Monks said student accommodation has become a major national asset class that requires policy certainty, stable administration, and investor confidence.
As a result, SANSAA is advocating for the establishment of an independent student accommodation authority that would oversee accreditation, compliance, grading, and payment systems separately from NSFAS.
The concerns raised by SANSAA echo earlier calls from the South African Student Accommodation Providers Association.
In February, the association’s CEO, Inga Ncomanzi, said the student accommodation sector had reached a critical point ahead of the 2026 National Budget.
Ncomanzi argued that private accommodation providers have long filled the gap between government funding promises and the practical realities students face in securing safe housing.
At the time, the association called for inflation-linked rental adjustments, guaranteed payment systems, incentives for new student housing developments, and relief measures for rising utility costs.
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