Short-term rentals, another yes from the Tuscany Regional Administrative Court to municipal limits

Yet another go-ahead for the restrictions that municipalities impose on tourist leases. After the sentence with which the Constitutional Court, in December, had sanctioned the legitimacy of Tuscany's regional law on the subject, now the Regional Administrative Court of Florence (sentence no. 925/2026) rejects 19 appeals against the regulation of the Municipality of Florence, which has set a long series of constraints on short rentals, starting with an authorisation regime.

The appeals had been filed by operators in the sector, trade associations, and private citizens, who complained of violations of constitutional principles on property and freedom of enterprise, in contrast with the European Services Directive and state legislative powers. The first section of the Court, however, explained that 'the protection of the urban environment and social and cultural policy objectives, together with the preservation of the historical and artistic heritage, constitute overriding reasons of general interest that justify restrictions on the freedom of economic initiative'.

With regard to the five-year authorisation regime imposed by the municipality of Florence, the judges wrote: "No improper limitation to the right of property derives therefore from the exercise of the faculty, attributed to municipalities with a high density of tourism and, in any case, to provincial capitals, to regulate short tourist rentals, subjecting them to prior authorisation: in fact, such a regulation, if anything, has a value that conforms to the right, and not substantially expropriative, with the further consequence that no compensation is due to the owners concerned". In short, there are no illegitimate limitations on the right to property.

Similarly, the judges give the municipalities the possibility to provide for constraints related to the quality of the offer: they say yes to provisions on fire prevention, plant conformity, combustible gas detection devices, but also to those on hygiene standards, limits on the use of key boxes, specific instructions on waste collection and fulfilments related to Cin, the identification code for tourist leases.

The mayor of Florence Sara Funaro speaks of a 'historic day'. "We have," she says, "won on all lines and on all the actions we have put in place on short rentals," a victory "not only at the local level, but also at the national level. The TAR, Funaro emphasised, "establishes that administrations have the right to regulate in order to maintain the balance between residency and policies in favour of city residents" on the one hand "and tourist accommodation policies" on the other. It is 'an important point that takes us forward convinced in the direction we have taken'.