Tourist rental contract in Italy: what is it and when should it be used?

If you are renting out your property in Italy for tourist purposes, we recommend that you always use a tourist rental contract. In this article, we will discuss what this contract is, what it looks like, and how you can easily create it. In addition, we've done some of the hard work for you and leave at your disposable a downloadable PDF with 2 examples of tourist rental contracts in Italy, which can be used as a template, one in a short version and one in a longer version, depending on your needs. Note that these contracts are in Italian. 

How do tourist contracts work in Italy and how long do they last?

According to Article 53 of the Tourism Code, and Article 1571 of the Civil Code, a tourist lease is understood to be a stay with these main characteristics:

• A consensual lease between the Lessee (guest) and the Lessor (host).
• With a limited duration, which generally cannot exceed 3 months.
• In these leases, only residential use of the property must be made.
• With a tourist purpose. 
• The rental can be arranged privately or through one of the leading platforms in the tourist rental market, such as Airbnb, Booking or similar.
• At the end of the tourist lease there is normally no need to give notice of termination, but the contract at the end of the period only ceases automatically.
• Finally, there is no provision for subletting in this type of stay.

Why is it important to establish a contract with guests in the case of a tourist lease?

Unlike rental contracts for residential use, which are obligatory, in the case of tourist rentals we recommend that you always enter into a contract with your guest, even if it is not always obligatory. These are the reasons:  

• It creates a psychological bond with the guest: when you make a guest sign this tourist contract, you are signing mutual obligations and making the house rules clear. A guest who signs will be more committed to respecting them.
• It is a sign of professionalism and seriousness: an owner or property manager who signs an agreement with a guest is giving an image of trust.

As a further piece of advice, we always suggest sending and having guests sign the holiday rental contract before their arrival, to avoid misunderstandings.

What data should a tourist rental contract contain?

If you have been able to download the previously mentioned tourist contract templates, you will have seen that we recommend that each contract contain at least these main data:

• Generalities and details of all guests
• Details and composition of the property
• Duration of the lease, with price, deposit if established, and extra services included (e.g. cleaning)
• House rules to be observed, e.g. hours, presence of animals, rubbish regulations, etc.

Why is it important to make a distinction according to length of stay?

This is very simple: to know whether or not you should then register the contract with the tax authorities. We can distinguish 3 main types of tourist lease:

• Long-term: this is a so-called seasonal contract, i.e. up to a maximum of 3 months, which we said is also the maximum for this type of lease.
• Medium-term: up to a maximum of 2-3 weeks.
• Short-term: usually a weekend or a few days.

If the duration of the tourist lease, and therefore of the rental contract, is less than 30 days, as is the case in most cases in the tourist accommodation rental sector, there is no obligation to register the tourist contract with the Italian Tax Agency. 

Whereas if the duration is longer than 30 days, it will be mandatory to register it.

Beware: if the same guest returns several times in the course of the same year, and the various stays add up to 30 days, or exceed them, you will fall under the obligation to register the tourist rental contract with the tax authorites in Italy.

In all cases, regardless of the duration of the tourist contract, Article 19 of Decree-Law 119/2018 states that it is mandatory to register the guest by sending Schedina Alloggiati to the Police portal, within 48 hours of their arrival.

What should I do if a guest refuses to sign a tourist rental contract?

Unfortunately, in many cases it is not possible to oblige the guest to sign the contract, especially if it is for a stay of less than 30 days, which does not have to be registered with the Tax Agency. In any case, we can only try to convey the importance of the tourist contract:

• By explaining the advantages of it: it is a guarantee of protection for both parties

• By clarifying any doubts that the guest may have that lead him or her not to want to sign it
• Emphasising the good faith behind the signing of the contract and the desire to ensure that everything goes smoothly
• Being patient and showing calmness and caution if in the end the guest decides not to sign.

What does it take to rent out a holiday home or accommodation in Italy?

If you have a property in Italy at your disposal that you want to put up for tourist rental in order to earn some extra money, you should know first of all that the main difference between the term Casa Vacanza (Holiday Home) and Struttura Ricettiva (Accommodation Facility) is that the former is used more in relation to longer, seasonal stays and the latter is used for shorter rentals.

In both cases, it is certainly an activity that we recommend, with the current 'boom' in the tourist rental market. And the tourist rental contract, which we discuss in this article, is the best way to protect your property and ensure that guests respect the stipulations.

You can entrust the management of your property to an agency or publish your property directly on the main tourist rental platforms, also known as OTAs, such as Airbnb, Booking, Vrbo, Rentalia, HomeToGo, or Google.

If you decide to do this yourself, it can certainly help to use accommodation management software such as AvaiBook, which will save you time. First of all, by keeping all the platforms on which you decide to publish your rental listings synchronised and also by optimising all your and your staff's daily management of bookings.

Alternatively, you should know that nowadays the figure of the Property Manager is becoming increasingly popular in the tourism sector. That is to say, an expert who deals precisely with the management of facilities intended for tourism, managing all aspects of bookings, from the reception of guests, to the collection of amounts, up to the maintenance of the property, and so on.

Normally, a Property Manager also relies on a Software for the management of bookings, payments, and Channel Manager such as AvaiBook, which manages precisely everything automatically.

Ultimately, a tourist rental contract is a document that details the rights and obligations of both parties in relation to renting a property for a specific period of time, i.e. the guest and the owner. It is a guarantee for the respect of the property and the stipulated clauses, and we believe it is the best way to protect your investment.

Guests will know what is expected of them and if they fail to comply, they will be responsible for the consequences, and you will be protected.If you decide to rent your property to tourists, don't hesitate any longer and do it safely and legally.

At idealista we offer you a free tourist rental contract template to download in Italian.

• Download the model tourist rental contract

Disclaimer: This is an example of a tourist lease contract. Therefore, it is advisable to consult an expert to draw up a customised document based on the owner's needs and the legislation in force in your jurisdiction.