Short-term rentals, Europe tightens the rules: what's new in Italy, Spain and Greece
From heavier schedules to possible local planning restrictions: Italy prepares one of the toughest regulations on short-term rentals
by Giuseppe Latour (Sole 24 Ore), Lena Kyriakidi (Efsyn, Greece), Ana Somavilla (El Confidencial, Spain)
Italy's recent fiscal squeeze on short-term rentals may soon be followed by a much more problematic tightening of administrative rules for hosts. The Budget Law 2026 has established that the taxation system for tourist rentals will be made more burdensome: for the first rented house there will be a 21% coupon, for the second a 26% coupon, and from the third onwards business activity will be presumed. Therefore, it will be compulsory to open a VAT number and pay social security contributions, with a much greater burden than in the past. Until now, business activity was only presumed from the fifth property.
These rules are in addition to Cin, the national identification code, which is mandatory from 2025 for tax tracking purposes. To this, however, new administrative rules could soon be added, with the provision of a specific urban destination for short-term rentals (a way of limiting access to the short-term rental market) and the possibility for municipalities to limit the number of properties that can be rented in certain areas. In mid-December, in fact, the Constitutional Court gave the go-ahead to Tuscany's law on the matter: that text includes precisely these limitations. Now many regions could impose similar limits. Tuscany has already been followed by Emilia Romagna. That is if the government does not choose to regulate the matter with a national law.
Greece, regulatory framework still light
Greece does not have a particularly strict system for short-term rentals. The first organic measures only arrived in 2025, prompted by pressure from hoteliers denouncing unfair competition. The law introduced minimum safety and quality requirements and penalties amounting to 50 per cent of revenue, which could be doubled or quadrupled in the event of a repeat offence.
The VAT exemption remains for those who rent one or two properties, provided they do not offer any additional services. With three or more properties, the activity becomes a 'business', with VAT at 13% and the obligation to register in the AADE Registry. Territorially, the only constraint concerns some central areas of Athens, from Plaka to Exarchia to Metaxourgeio, where it is forbidden to create new short-term rentals due to market saturation.N
Meanwhile, rents continue to rise (+20% in two years), despite the three-year tax incentives for those returning to the long term. The sector has hit a record one million beds in the third quarter of 2025, while political criticism is raging: the mayor of Athens accuses landlords of ignoring the issue of access to housing and calls for 'resilience fees' to be allocated to municipalities.
