Registration of a holiday property

Before you can offer your property for tourist rentals, you must register it with the local municipality, the province, and the regional police authority. All registrations are handled online, but the prerequisite is having an Italian certified e-mail address, known as PEC (posta elettronica certificata).

 Since most application forms are available only in Italian, and this often represents the first major obstacle, it is advisable to hire a tax consultant or an agency specialized in holiday rentals to handle the registration process on your behalf.

Once the forms have been submitted, the institutions have 30 days to raise any objections. If this period expires without objection, the application is automatically considered approved, and you can officially start renting out your holiday property. From that point on, you are required to report the arrival of all guests within 48 hours to the police authority and to transmit all arrivals, departures, and daily occupancy data through the province’s online portal. 

Depending on the municipality, you must also submit a guest list and pay the tourist tax either monthly or twice a year. The amount of the tourist tax varies from municipality to municipality and must therefore be checked locally.

Since the administrative workload of these recurring reports should not be underestimated, this is often a good reason to entrust an agency with managing your rental property.

Good to know: If your property is located in a residential complex, be sure to inform the building administrator before your first guests arrive. Especially if you are handling the rentals yourself and signing contracts directly with guests, it is also essential to check whether your insurance covers any damage caused to or by the guests.