Short rentals, also Milan bans keyboxes: penalties of up to 400 euro
City Council resolution in force from January 2026
Milan, too, declares war on keyboxes, the key boxes used for short-term rentals that have appeared in the city streets by the hundreds in recent years. From January 2026 they will no longer be allowed to be used: this was decided by the city council, which approved a resolution that will ban key boxes in particular "on elements of street furniture, road signs, fences, gates, light poles or other structures placed on public land".
The ban in other cities
Milan is not the first in Italy to ban keyboxes, with the spread of short-term rentals other tourist cities have banned them to protect urban decorum, but also for security issues. For example, Florence approved a resolution last February prohibiting the installation of key boxes on public property, providing for their removal within 10 days and the application of administrative sanctions. Even Rome started an operation to remove all the boxes on the streets.
"Keyboxes also used for dealing"
In Milan, for those who do not respect the rules there is a fine of between one hundred and four hundred euro, plus the cost of removal. The keyboxes are used to facilitate autonomous check-in by guests but, the municipality points out, in the absence of authorisation for the occupation of public land and without financial consideration, 'thus entailing an improper use of public space for the benefit of private individuals', explains the first signatory of the resolution, the municipal councillor of the PD, Michele Albiani.
But the decorum of the city streets is not the only reason to ban the boxes, there is also a security issue. The key-boxes can in fact also be used, reads the resolution approved by the city council, for drug dealing activities, 'as ascertained in recent judicial investigations'. Now flat owners have thirty days to comply and remove the boxes, otherwise they will have to pay the fine and also pay for their removal by the municipality. "Anonymous devices, with no traceability, installed by anyone and anywhere, often in front of apartment buildings, shops, museums, public transport stops - comments the PD councillor - Today Milan says enough is enough. Public space is once again a common good and not a noticeboard for short-term rentals'.
