Italy is trying to solve the short-term rentals problem

Last May, while Italy was busy criticising the Open To Meraviglia campaign set up by the Ministry of Tourism, Minister Santanché announced that she would change the laws on short-term tourist stays, to cut down on the phenomenon of overtourism and stop the depopulation of the historic centres of Italian cities. On 6 September, Minister Santanché returned to talk about the proposed decree on social media, writing on her Facebook page: «We have addressed the situation of short-term rentals in no uncertain terms, already months ago setting up discussion tables with trade and tenants' associations, with the regions and the mayors of metropolitan cities, to arrive at a proposal that is as shared as possible. Without a doubt, therefore, we quickly put the issue among the priorities to be addressed in the tourism sector. Today we gave the stakeholders the text of our regulatory proposal in order to formulate effective and efficient solutions that can be highly shared.» Compared to the short-term rental bill published last May, the one shared this September by the Italian government puts more focus on the problem of illegal tourism.

The new short-rental bill 

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As anticipated in May, the new proposed legislation against short-term rentals includes a clampdown on stays. By requiring a minimum stay of at least two nights in hotels located in historic city centres, anyone violating this rule will be fined up to five thousand euros. The last sheet also proposes replacing the Regional Identification Code with the Cin, on a national scale, in order to bring together all data on Italian hotel facilities under a single portal, so as to centralise them. In this case, not making the Cin request could cost a penalty of 8,000 euro. The new draft law of the Ministry of Tourism adds a further limit to the number of short-term rental flats of the same owner, from 4 to 2.

Criticism levelled against the new short-term rental bill

The first institution to respond to the new Ministry of Tourism bill was Federalberghi. President Bernabò Bocca suggested that since those who rent two apartments for the weekend are carrying out a commercial activity, the government should raise the minimum stay to three nights. «We find New York's rule to be the best thing,» Bocca added, referring to the regulations implemented in the Big Apple this week. «You can only rent if the host lives in the same flat: you in your home, where you live, you can do what you want but if you do it in another flat it is an investment, a commercial activity for all intents and purposes.» Of a completely opposite opinion is Aigab, the Italian association of short-term rental managers, which finds the restrictions incomprehensible and aimed at complicating the owner's life by forcing him to open a VAT number. Pierfrancesco Maran, councillor for housing for the municipality of Milan, believes that none of the new regulations will actually help the city. «This is a missed opportunity. It is like saying that nothing changes,» Maran explained.