The February Accreditation Problem

Issue 03 · Thursday 1 October 2026
3,600 words, about 14 minutes

IN THIS ISSUE

• Why a court order, a R616 million bill and a promised rewrite of the cap all land on your 2027 rent
• The date on your NSFAS offer letter that nobody in government has mentioned
• What a lapsed accreditation would cost you, and why the queue to fix one is already long
• The checks to run on every property this month, before the December shutdown

What you are getting. This brief goes out once a month. All of it is free, and all of it is free to forward. Written by me, not by a team.

The bottom line. NSFAS offer letters issued in early 2024 say the accreditation certificate is valid for three years. For the first properties accredited that year, three years runs out in February 2027, the month students move in. No NSFAS notice, ministerial speech or parliamentary record I can find mentions renewal. At the same time the Minister wants universities to take over accreditation, the national standard is waiting to be gazetted, and NSFAS says it has no inspection team. A bed that loses accreditation falls to the R2,500 a month unaccredited cap, less than half an accredited single room. Start your renewal paperwork now.

1. WHAT MOVED

The board is back, and the administrator is out, for now

On 14 August the Pretoria High Court suspended the administrator the Minister had appointed to run NSFAS and put seven board members back in their seats until the full case is heard. That second part of the case (Part B) is expected, preferably, by the end of November. At the launch of the 2027 application cycle on 18 September the Minister named Adv Richardt Ramashia as Interim Board Chair and described a "Board-led governance arrangement".

For a landlord this means one thing. The people who will sign off the 2027 accommodation rules may not be the people in charge when those rules are applied. I found no sign of an appeal. If Part B goes the other way, expect another reshuffle in the middle of the renewal season.

The cap will be rewritten, and the Minister is defending it until then

Last month's issue covered what Parliament heard about the cap on 28 August. Since then the Minister has pointed in two directions. On 31 August, according to a News24 headline, he acknowledged the cap had "unintended consequences". On 18 September he defended it: public money could not become "an open cheque". His stated direction is to replace one national figure with bands that vary by area, grade, room type and whether utilities are included.

Handle with care. The promise of 2027 accommodation protocols and funding guidelines by the end of October rests on one news report.

What this means for a building: the rate you budget for 2027 may depend on your grade and room type in a way it did not in 2026. If your grade is out of date, so is your budget.

R616 million to the middlemen, and NSFAS says it cannot walk away

On 23 September the Portfolio Committee heard that the private companies running NSFAS's accommodation system were paid R616 million over 2024 and 2025. The four named for 2025 are Xiquel (R110 million), Profecia IT (R86 million), NDT (R51 million) and TYM (R18 million), all on five-year contracts from 2023. A law firm's review found flaws in how they were appointed and the committee chair is writing to the SIU.

NSFAS acting CEO Waseem Carrim told MPs that ending the contracts early, without its own systems in place, "would risk disrupting the accommodation and payment processes." These are the platforms your accreditation, leases and payments run through. Do not expect them to go away before 2027. Do expect more questions about them.

No accommodation payment in October, if the circular is right

Handle with care. A local newspaper reported an NSFAS circular (Notice No. 11) with this calendar: the 8th accommodation payment on 30 September, nothing in October, the 9th and 10th payments together on 1 November, and a mop-up in mid-December. I could not find the notice on the NSFAS website, and it may apply to colleges only.

If it applies to you, October is a month with costs and no NSFAS income. Plan the month on that basis and treat 1 November as a date to watch, not a date to spend against.

2. THE FEBRUARY PROBLEM

Three terms, before we go further

Accreditation is NSFAS (or a university) saying your property may house funded students and be paid for them.

Grading is the level NSFAS gives your property. It sets your rate. In 2024 there were five grades, A to E.

The certificate is the document that proves both, and it has a validity period. That period is the subject of this section.

University accreditation is a separate thing, runs on its own clock, and I come back to it below.

The date nobody has mentioned

Every 2024 NSFAS offer letter I have read contains the same sentence:

"Your accreditation certificate is valid for three (3) years subject to review."

Three years is the limit. "Subject to review" gives NSFAS the right to look again sooner. It does not stretch the term. The letter says nothing about automatic renewal, and nothing about what happens on the day after.

At MSH we manage six properties with 2024 NSFAS offer letters: 241 beds, graded three A, two B and one C. The letters are dated between 9 February and 8 May 2024. Add three years and you get 9 February to 8 May 2027. The first expiry lands in the week students arrive. The last lands after the first payment file of the year has already been built.

Our dates are not special. The same sentence appears in every 2024 letter we hold, across three different owners and two provinces. If your letter is dated early 2024, you are on the same clock.

I searched NSFAS's websites, its provider portals, every ministerial speech since August and the parliamentary record. Renewal of these certificates is not mentioned once. The Minister's application launch on 18 September did not mention it. The accreditation debate in Parliament on 28 August did not mention it.

NSFAS's homepage describes "a three-year contract with annual reviews". An undated NSFAS terms document says twelve months. Read your own signed letter. It is the document with your property's name on it.

Who accredits you in 2027

On 28 August the Minister set out what he called a rebalanced model. Government sets policy and regulates price. NSFAS funds and pays. Institutions handle "local accreditation and placement". Providers accept "disclosure and inspection obligations".

The department's version was more cautious. It said the parts that can be done for 2027 will be done "where capability existed", that the full model "might take up to two years", and that institutions should "retake accreditation" where possible. A joint report on accreditation reform and the cap method is due to Parliament by mid-November.

So for 2027 you may be dealing with NSFAS, your university, or both, depending on which institution has the staff. Nobody has said which applies where.

The Minister also named, as a failure of the system, "accreditation treated as a once-off event rather than an ongoing obligation". Keep that sentence in mind. It tells you how the next set of rules will read.

The standard is moving

The revised Minimum Norms and Standards for student housing cover university-owned, leased and privately accredited beds. The Presidency authorised them for gazetting in a letter dated 13 August 2026, according to the department's evidence to Parliament. They have not been gazetted. The last gazetted step was in 2022.

Once gazetted, they become the benchmark for any new accreditation. A certificate issued in 2024 was measured against the old one.

The grading scale has already moved. NSFAS's grading table as at 13 February 2024 marked Grade E for phase-out in 2025 and Grade D for phase-out in 2026. Both are gone. A property graded C in 2024, which was the middle of the scale, is now at the bottom of it.

Nobody is inspecting, everyone is auditing

On 28 August an NSFAS official told Parliament that the monitoring and evaluation team was disbanded when NSFAS went into administration, with "no equivalent function currently in place". NSFAS cannot visit every property that gets a complaint.

The auditing is coming from everywhere else:

• On 25 March the Minister directed the NSFAS board to audit every accredited private provider and suspend any found in material breach. No results have been published.
• In June the Auditor-General began a national inspection of NSFAS-funded accommodation, looking at building plans, electrical and fire compliance, ownership and zoning (reported by OUTA).
• In August the Minister told the NCOP that a national audit is building a verified register of properties, recording ownership, capacity, grading, complaints and payment status. Failing providers face suspension or withdrawal. Officials who approved failing stock may be referred to the SIU.
• On 18 August the Public Protector said a separate systemic investigation into student accommodation would follow.

Put those together. When the renewal comes, the file NSFAS looks at may be built from an audit you never saw, against a standard not yet published.

The number: 39

On 28 August NSFAS told Parliament it has 39 active accreditation agents. Press reports put the country's private accredited stock at about 332,000 beds. That is roughly 8,500 beds per agent. It is a rough ratio, because NSFAS has not said what those agents would do for renewals, how many renewals are due in early 2027, or how long each takes.

Here is how long one takes right now. MSH submitted a property in June 2026. At the end of September, close to four months later, we still have no outcome. That is one property, submitted outside any rush, with nothing else competing for attention.

Now put every early-2024 certificate into the same queue in the same few weeks, with a new model, a new standard and possibly new staff at the universities.

The cost of being at the back of that queue is simple to state. Since a March 2025 circular, a funded student in unaccredited housing is capped at R2,500 a month, R25,000 over the funding year. An accredited single room on the 2025 rate card pays up to R5,200 a month. A lapse does not trim your income. It halves it. We confirmed the R2,500 figure for the MSH Student Accommodation Monitor in August. On our six properties, 241 beds sit on this clock.

The university clock runs faster

University accreditation is annual almost everywhere I checked.

• North-West University: valid for one year, every landlord reapplies, and the 2026 window closed on 15 January 2026. Two unannounced inspections a year.
• Nelson Mandela University: annual, and the process can take up to 90 days.
• University of Pretoria: the 2026 window ran 25 February to 11 March 2026.
• Central University of Technology: the 2026 call for new landlords closed on 30 September 2025. If it repeats, a 2027 call is due now. That is my inference, not a published date.
• University of the Free State: moved accreditation onto a new system this year. The 2027 window closed on 30 September 2026.

The University of the Free State gave one of our properties provisional accreditation for January to December 2026. The letter is dated 7 May 2026. It says the accreditation "is not retrospective" and covers "the current calendar year only". It expires on 31 December, and we received it four months into the year it covers.

Apart from UFS, none of the universities I checked had published a 2027 window by 29 September. UFS shows why that is no comfort. If you wait to hear about a window, you may hear about it after it has closed. If you have a UFS property and missed 30 September, contact Housing and Residence Affairs now.

What I cannot tell you yet

Whether 2024 certificates will be honoured past their three years. NSFAS may extend them, roll them into a new process, or let them lapse. Nothing has been published. I am asking NSFAS directly and will report what I get.

Who processes a 2027 renewal. NSFAS, the university, or both. The mid-November report to Parliament should say more. I will be reading it.

Whether the Notice No. 11 calendar applies to universities. I am chasing the original notice.

The checks to run this month

1. Find the signed offer letter for every property. Write the date on the front. Add three years. That is your deadline.
2. Download the certificate from the portal while you have access, and keep the original signed PDF of the letter. Letters regenerated from the portal later carry different rate columns from the ones that were signed.
3. Check every compliance document for an expiry date. Electrical certificate, fire, zoning, municipal approvals, building plans, proof of ownership. These are what the Auditor-General is looking at. Last December NSFAS refused to consider any re-grading where a compliance document had expired.
4. Check that ownership and banking details match across the title deed, your NSFAS profile and your lease. The national register records ownership, capacity and payment status. A mismatch is the easiest thing for an auditor to find.
5. Write down your university accreditation expiry and the 2027 window for every property. UFS closed on 30 September. Ask the others now rather than waiting for an announcement.
6. Budget for a February with no NSFAS money. In 2026 the first accommodation payment moved to 13 March and covered February and March together. NSFAS's own letter gave the reason: registrations and signed leases were lower than expected. The same could happen in 2027.

My recommendation

This is opinion, and I am keeping it separate from the facts above.

Start your renewal preparation now, not in January. Treat your NSFAS certificate as expiring on its three-year date, and have every document ready to submit the day a process opens. Apply for university accreditation for 2027 as soon as each window opens.

On timing, here is what I have heard from others in the industry: the longer you wait to submit, the harder a higher grade becomes. I cannot show you a document that says so. What I can show you is that the bottom two grades have been removed since 2024, the standard is about to be rewritten, and last year's re-grading window ran for eight days over Christmas, from 19 to 26 December, with late submissions refused and the cost of any assessor visit falling on the landlord. Every step in that direction has made waiting more expensive.

None of this guarantees your accreditation carries into 2027. Nobody can promise that right now, including me. Being early means you are ready whichever way NSFAS decides. Being late means you find out in February.

3. ONE THING WORTH FIXING

Every document with an expiry date needs a reminder, not a memory

A property file is full of dates. The NSFAS certificate runs three years. University accreditation runs one. Fire equipment gets serviced every year. Insurance renews. Leases end. Tax compliance status lapses. Most landlords know these dates exist. Few have them written down anywhere that will tell them in time.

That works until an accreditation round opens. Then every document is needed on the same day, and every landlord in town is phoning the same electricians, fire service companies and municipal offices in the same fortnight. Last December NSFAS refused to consider any re-grading where a compliance document had expired. An expired certificate you could have renewed in a quiet month in August becomes one you cannot get in time in January.

The fix is dull and it works. Put every document with an expiry date into a tool that reminds you: a shared calendar, a property management system, a spreadsheet with conditional formatting, whatever you will actually open. Set two reminders for each, six months and three months before the date. Put the university and NSFAS accreditation dates in the same place. Keep it somewhere more than one person can see, so it does not leave with a staff member.

Then renew on the reminder, not on the deadline. The goal is to arrive at the next accreditation window with nothing left to fix, while everyone else is still queueing.

If you manage more than one property, setting this up takes an afternoon. Do it before the end of October.

4. WHAT IS NEXT

21 October · Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement
Why it matters: the first public sign of whether Treasury will fund NSFAS's shortfall. The Minister has projected it could reach R33 billion by 2029.

Late October · National accommodation baseline due
Why it matters: the reconciled count of every funded bed feeds the verified property register. If your property's details are wrong in it, that is where it starts.

End October · 2027 accommodation protocols and funding guidelines (one news report, handle with care)
Why it matters: this is where the 2027 cap, the grading bands and possibly the renewal process get written down.

1 November · NSFAS 9th and 10th accommodation payments together (per Notice No. 11, handle with care)
Why it matters: two months of income in one payment, if it arrives on time.

Mid-November · Department's joint report to Parliament on accreditation reform and cap method
Why it matters: the clearest statement we are likely to get of who accredits whom in 2027.

19 November · Reserve Bank rate decision
Why it matters: the repo rate went up 25 basis points to 7.25% on 23 September. Another move changes the cost of any bond on a student property.

By end November · Part B, NSFAS board v Minister
Why it matters: decides who governs NSFAS through the 2027 intake.

December · 2027 funding outcomes, and the 2026 accommodation mop-up
Why it matters: outcomes tell you how many funded students are coming. The mop-up is meant to settle outstanding 2026 claims.

9 February to 8 May 2027 · Three-year limit on early-2024 NSFAS certificates
Why it matters: see section 2. Check the date on your own letter.

5. FILED AWAY

NSFAS and government documents

• NSFAS accommodation offer letters, February to May 2024 (MSH-managed properties, read in full)
• NSFAS Student Accommodation Grading Levels as at 13 February 2024, Annexure B
• NSFAS, Accommodation Re-grading Process for 2026, December 2025
• NSFAS Letter of Notice to Accommodation Providers 05 of 2026, 26 February 2026
• University of the Free State, provisional accreditation letter, 7 May 2026
• University of the Free State, 2027 off-campus accreditation window on the new system, closing 30 September 2026
• MSH Student Accommodation Monitor 2026, 27 August 2026 (unaccredited cap of R25,000 a year, March 2025 circular)
• DHET, Minister's directive to the NSFAS Board, 25 March 2026
• NSFAS media statement on private accommodation payments, 11 May 2026 (gov.za)
• Minister Manamela, speech at the launch of the NSFAS 2027 application cycle, 18 September 2026 (gov.za)
• NSFAS homepage, nsfas.org.za, accessed 29 September 2026
• NSFAS provider portal, How it works, profprod.nsfas.org.za, accessed 29 September 2026
• South African Reserve Bank, Monetary Policy Statement, 23 September 2026
• Parliament, programme for the fourth term 2026

Parliament

• Portfolio Committee on Higher Education, colloquium on student accommodation, 28 August 2026 (PMG record)
• Select Committee chair, media statement on the court ruling, 15 August 2026

University accreditation pages

• North-West University, 2026 Accreditation Guidelines
• Nelson Mandela University, Accommodation Accreditation for Service Providers
• University of Pretoria, Private Accredited Accommodation
• Central University of Technology, Campus Accommodation

News reports (single-source items are marked in the text)

• Polity, court reinstates NSFAS board, 14 August 2026
• Mail & Guardian, on the Part B timeline, 17 August 2026
• The Citizen, Manamela reveals NSFAS accommodation control failures, 14 August 2026
• TimesLIVE, Public Protector on student housing failures, 18 August 2026
• OUTA, AGSA audit of NSFAS student accommodation, 10 June 2026
• Daily Maverick, NSFAS on the housing cap, 11 August 2026
• GroundUp, students bear the brunt of the accommodation cap, August 2026
• News24, Minister on the cap's unintended consequences, 31 August 2026
• Sunday Tribune, student housing costs and shortages, 1 September 2026
• Daily Maverick, NSFAS R10bn hole, 4 September 2026
• Daily News, NSFAS funding model unsustainable, 9 September 2026
• George Herald, NSFAS circular on second-semester payments, 9 September 2026
• EWN, Minister on the accommodation cap, 18 September 2026
• The Citizen, NSFAS sets October deadline for 2027 accommodation rules, 23 September 2026
• Daily Maverick, MPs on R616m middleman payouts, 24 September 2026

That is a wrap for the month.

If something in here affects one of your properties and you want to talk it through, write to [email protected]. My team reads every message and brings the ones that need me to me. What you send shapes what I go and find out next month.

Retha

ALSO FROM ME

MSH sells accreditation support, so read section 2 knowing that. I have written it to be useful whether or not you ever work with us.

• The MSH Student Accommodation Monitor 2026, free.
• Student Accommodation in South Africa: The Investor's Guide. Buying, accrediting, filling and running student accommodation. Print R495 with delivery, or eBook.
• NSFAS Accreditation Masterclass, 30 September and 1 October. Missed it? The recordings of both evenings are on the website.
• One hour on one property, your numbers, a direct answer.
• The NSFAS Readiness Scorecard, free, seven questions, about two minutes.