The recent ruling by the Council and the crackdown coming from Brussels in the next few months will place new constraints on owners. Who, at this point, will find themselves precluded from renting their homes for tourist purposes
2026 could be the year in which the future of short-term rentals is decided. A change that will impact not only the owners but also the trend of tourism in our country. It’s not about being catastrophists but about looking at reality. On the other hand, the conditions for a crackdown on what has been the investment of many Italians fleeing from traditional long-term contracts, little protected by jurisprudence, are there. The two pillars of change have already been planted and it will be difficult to go back. We are talking about the historic ruling (it is not an exaggeration to define it this way) of the Constitutional Court (no. 186 filed on 16 December 2025) with which it was established that mayors and Regions have the power to limit short-term rentals to protect the right to live and the identity of historic centres. Thus rejecting the government’s appeal against the law of the Tuscany Region, the first to want to place a limit on holiday homes.
What could happen concretely? The Municipalities (especially the capitals and those with a high tourist density) will identify specific areas of the city where the phenomenon of super tourism is critical. In these areas, the mayors would have a free hand in setting a maximum limit on the number of accommodations allocated to rentals for tourist use. They could also ban new openings for a certain period.
The crackdown also brings with it an increase in bureaucracy. A simple communication (Scia) would no longer be enough to start a tourist rental, but the Municipality could make the activity subject to the issuing of a five-year authorization, based on urban sustainability criteria. A crucial point of the ruling concerns the nature of the property with the change of intended use. This opens the way to the possibility of requesting that the property have a “tourist-accommodation” destination and no longer just a “residential” one to be rented on a permanent basis to tourists. Anyone who manages multiple properties (often more than two apartments, depending on regional laws) would have the obligation to operate in the form of a business, with related costs and obligations. This is already provided for by the 2026 Budget Law regarding the tax rate.
The Court’s ruling is an epochal turning point above all because it establishes a principle: that the right to property is not absolute. If the use of a house as a “widespread hotel” damages the community (by making rent disappear for residents or emptying neighborhoods of essential services), the Municipality has the right to intervene to guarantee social utility. In essence, the owner can dispose of his property in a limited way. Stuff from totalitarian regimes against private property.
The pronouncement goes hand in hand with a similar orientation from the European Commission which has already given some details of what will be a Housing Plan, a legislative proposal presented by the end of the year. The objective is to limit short-term rentals because, according to European Commissioner Dan Jørgensen, they are responsible for «expelling residents of historic centers from the residential market». The focus of future legislation will be the identification of the so-called areas under housing stress and the introduction of an annual maximum of salable nights or the obligation to combine this rental method with other channels such as that for students. Furthermore, there will be a differentiation between professional hosts and those who rent to supplement their income. These rules will be combined with a European regulation (2024/1028) which will come into force from May 20th by intervening on online platforms to make rentals more transparent.
At this point what happens? Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna already have laws ready that give these powers to mayors. Florence and Bologna are at the forefront and are likely to lead the way for other cities. The specific rules will vary from Municipality to Municipality and the mayor of Rome could decide different limits than the mayor of Venice or Naples, since the Constitutional Court has recognized that each territory has different needs.
Meanwhile, in Milan and the capital the police are already removing keyboxes, the key boxes used for short-term rentals, in various areas of the city, because they are considered illegal.
The result of these barriers is to make life difficult for those who come to visit our country since they will have fewer options. And he might decide to go elsewhere.
On the owners’ side, the consequence will be to see their property “requisitioned” which will cease to be a source of income. It is clear that sales aimed at short-term rentals risk suffering a decline. Already now the majority of purchases are for first homes, since the legislation, by not protecting owners against arrears, has long discouraged real estate investments. In recent years of tourism explosion, short-term rentals have represented a source of income even if expectations have, in many cases, been disappointed. Too much bureaucracy and high management costs have held back this market. According to findings by Aigab (Association of short-term rental managers), last summer there was a drop in active adverts of around 14 thousand units, from 522 thousand in June 2024 to around 508 thousand a year later. The share of nights sold fell to 64 percent from 66.3 in previous years.
A decline due to a series of factors: from bureaucratic pressure (the entry into force of the Cin, the National Identification Code and the obligation to install fire extinguishers and gas detectors has pushed many hosts to close their business to avoid facing the huge costs of bringing the apartment up to standard) to high taxation, with the flat rate of 26 percent for those who have multiple rooms to rent. With the increase in management costs, prices have risen: the average national rate has gone from 154 euros to 167 euros per night.
There is no shortage of critical voices both on the Council’s decision and on the EU guidelines. «The ruling of the Constitutional Court on tourist rentals cannot be shared on a legal or political level, where it appears to overflow in some passages», comments the president of Confedilizia, Giorgio Spaziani Testa. And he adds: «The Consulta shows that it justifies unacceptable compressions of the right to property and ends up investing the public administration with every power of interference in the freedom of negotiation of private individuals, including the possibility of prohibiting renting for tourist purposes».
The ruling of the Supreme Court seems to be part of a climate of exasperated and growing dirigisme «which increasingly characterizes» continues the president of the building property «the approach to the topic of short-term and tourist rentals. A climate that has obviously not failed to influence the European Commission, which, after the follies of the green deal, is preparing to suggest constraints and limitations on a sector over which it has no competence”.
In Europe the game is only just beginning and the hope is that individual countries will be able to protect the key principle of private property.
