Key Takeaways
- Rental permission is not a single yes or no. Buyers should check four layers: national law, local commune, canton or province rules, the building's co-ownership rules, and tax and safety obligations.
- In France, all furnished tourist rentals must be declared through a dedicated national online system by 20 May 2026 at the latest. The principal-residence day cap is 120 days a year nationally and can be reduced to 90 days by the commune.
- In Italy, qualifying tourist and short-let accommodation must carry a Codice Identificativo Nazionale (CIN), displayed at the property and included in every advertisement.
- In Japan, the Private Lodging Business Act caps short-term letting at 180 days a year, with stricter local rules permitted on top.
- Switzerland and Austria have no single national tourist-let licensing framework. Rules sit at canton, commune, or provincial level and need local confirmation.
- Building-level rules are the layer most commonly missed at the purchase stage. A property can be legal to let nationally and locally and still be banned from short-term letting by its règlement de copropriété or condominium contract.
Why rental permission is not a simple yes or no
Most overseas buyers ask one question before purchase: am I allowed to rent this out? There is rarely a single yes or no, because rental permission is decided at four separate layers. A property can be legal to own but not legal to rent in the way the buyer expects.
It can be rentable on a long-term basis but restricted for short-term tourist use. It can be rentable by law but prohibited by the building's own rules. The central question to screen for, before relying on rental income, is what could stop you renting this property in the way you expect.
Important
Before assuming a ski property can be rented, check all four layers: (1) national law (registration, day caps, tax regime); (2) local rules at commune, municipality, canton, or province level; (3) the building's co-ownership rules (règlement de copropriété or condominium contract); (4) tax and safety obligations, including energy performance, fire safety, and tourist tax collection. A clearance at one layer does not imply clearance at the others.
France: new tourist-let rules for 2025 and 2026
France has just gone through the most documented national rental reform in any of the markets covered here. Law no. 2024-1039 of 19 November 2024, known as Loi Le Meur1, restructures how short-term tourist letting is registered, taxed, and capped.
The headline change is national registration. By 20 May 2026 at the latest, all furnished tourist rentals in France must be declared through a dedicated national online system. Some local registration systems already exist; the reform pulls the declaration obligation up to a single national level.
For non-principal-residence lets, a separate prior declaration to the mayor of the commune using CERFA 14004*2 already applies and continues to apply, with Loi Le Meur strengthening enforcement around it.
Communes have the power to reduce the principal-residence day cap from 120 to 90 days per year, but only by issuing a formal deliberation: a vote of the local authority. The reduction is not automatic. The civil fine for exceeding the day cap is €15,000.
Platforms are now integrated into the enforcement chain; they are required to block further bookings once the annual day cap is reached.
A landlord offering a principal residence as a tourist let needs to be able to prove it really is their principal residence, using a tax notice in their name showing the address. The changement d'usage3 procedure has also been strengthened for communes with housing pressure, which can be relevant in established alpine resort communes.
Why this matters before purchase. In the most popular ski resorts the day cap can be cut to 90 days by the commune, directly limiting rental yield. For a buyer relying on a principal-residence tourist-let model in a regulated commune, that is a 25% reduction in the maximum legal letting window before any other constraint is applied.
France: building rules can still block you
The règlement de copropriété is the legal document governing a French co-owned building. It can contain clauses prohibiting or restricting short-term tourist letting, and those clauses bind individual owners.
This is true even where changement d'usage authorisation is not required, and even where national and local rules permit short-let activity. A property can clear every public-law layer and still be banned by its building.
Recent general-meeting minutes are worth reading alongside the règlement, because owner disputes about short-term letting often surface there before they end up in the formal rules. The same logic applies in Switzerland, Austria, Italy, and Japan: condominium documents in resort buildings can restrict tourist letting regardless of national or local law.
France: tax treatment of furnished tourist lets
Two micro-BIC4 regimes apply to furnished tourist accommodation, depending on whether the property is classified or not. Loi Le Meur reduced the abatement for unclassified lets specifically to disincentivise short-term tourist letting versus long-term rental.
| Micro-BIC regime (income year 2025) | Unclassified furnished tourist let | Classified meublé de tourisme / chambres d'hôtes |
|---|---|---|
| Annual revenue threshold | €15,000 | €77,700 |
| Fixed deduction (abatement) | 30% | 50% |
| Source | Impots.gouv.fr | Impots.gouv.fr |
The Loueur en Meublé Non Professionnel (LMNP)5 regime is often used by individual owners because it allows depreciation of the property asset. It is a regime to model with a French tax adviser rather than a fixed figure to plan around.
Non-residents face different withholding and social contribution rules and should not rely on the figures above as a complete picture. A French tax specialist with non-resident experience is the only safe way to confirm the net position.
France: energy performance and rental risk
The Diagnostic de Performance Energétique (DPE)6 assigns each property a letter grade from A (best) to G (worst). For long-term residential lettings, France has set a phased ban on letting the worst-rated stock.
Important
For long-term residential letting in France, a G-rated property has been banned from new rental contracts since January 2025. F-rated properties are due to be banned from 2028 and E-rated properties from 2034. Whether and when the same dates apply to short-term tourist lets (meublés de tourisme) is not confirmed, and tourist-let DPE rules should be treated as a tightening risk to monitor and to verify with a French legal or tax specialist before signing.
Older Alpine chalets frequently fall in E, F, or G bands. That makes DPE a live due-diligence risk for any traditional ski property: the rating is on the technical file at sale, and a poor rating can limit rental options and may increase the cost or complexity of making the property lettable.
Why this matters before purchase. A G-rated chalet bought in 2026 cannot be let on a long-term residential basis today. The cost of upgrading insulation, glazing, and heating enough to rescue a long-term rental plan can be substantial, and the works are often constrained by the building's structure or by copropriété approval.
France: furnished, unfurnished, and mobility leases
Furnished does not mean tourist let. Several distinct legal regimes coexist in France, and they should not be confused.
The furnished tourist let (meublé de tourisme) is the short-term regime. To qualify, the property must meet the minimum furnishing standard set by Loi Alur 2014: bedding, shutters or curtains, stove or microwave, refrigerator, freezer, cutlery and cooking utensils, table and chairs, storage, lighting, and cleaning equipment.
The bail mobilité7 is a 1 to 10 month furnished lease that cannot be renewed beyond 10 months. It can suit mid-season letting to seasonal workers or visiting professionals.
A long-term furnished principal-residence lease runs for a minimum of 1 year, or 9 months for a student. A long-term unfurnished principal-residence lease runs for 3 years (individual landlord) or 6 years (legal person), which makes it ill-suited to seasonal ski-property use.
Each regime has its own minimum term, tax treatment, and rules on termination. A buyer planning to flex between long lets in summer and short lets in winter is mixing two legal frameworks and needs that confirmed in writing before committing.
Switzerland: ownership rules first, rental rules second
Swiss rental rules for ski properties cannot be discussed without first dealing with ownership rules, because foreign buyers face restrictions on what they can acquire before any rental question arises.
The Lex Koller8, formally the Federal Act on the Acquisition of Real Estate by Persons Abroad, generally requires foreign non-residents to obtain authorisation from the competent cantonal authority before purchasing real estate. The Lex Weber9, or Second Homes Act, prevents new holiday homes from being built in any municipality where the second-home share already exceeds 20%. Lex Weber does not prohibit tourist letting of existing second homes, but it constrains new supply in the most sought-after resort communes.
Switzerland does not have a single national tourist-let licensing framework equivalent to France's national registration reform. Rental rules are set at canton, commune, and condominium level.
Important
This guide does not list canton or commune-specific Swiss rental rules; they vary widely and need local confirmation at canton, commune, and condominium level. Treat Swiss resort condominium rules as a high-probability constraint rather than an exception.
Austria: provincial planning law and the leisure residence designation
Austria regulates second-home use through provincial planning law (Raumordnung), not through a national tourist-let licensing law. The only province with verified primary-source rules in this guide is Tyrol.
Under §13 of the Tiroler Raumordnungsgesetz 202210, a Freizeitwohnsitz (leisure residence) is defined as a building used other than to satisfy a year-round housing need centred around vital interests. A ski property used only in winter can fall within that definition.
Under §13a, using a dwelling as a Freizeitwohnsitz without the required legal basis is an administrative offence. The designation requirements that follow may restrict tourist letting of the property.
Important
Austria-wide rental rules are not established in this guide; Vorarlberg, Salzburg, and Carinthia each have their own provincial planning regimes and were not researched here. Buyers in any Austrian province other than Tyrol should check provincial planning law and any commune-level designation rules before relying on a rental plan.
Italy: the national CIN system
Italy's Ministry of Tourism operates the Banca Dati delle Strutture Ricettive (BDSR)11, the national database for accommodation structures. Every qualifying short-let must be registered on the BDSR and assigned a Codice Identificativo Nazionale (CIN)12. The CIN replaces the older patchwork of regional Codici Identificativi Regionali (CIR) codes.
The owner registers the accommodation structure with Italy's Ministry of Tourism via the national BDSR portal. Local and regional registration layers may still exist alongside the CIN and should be checked at commune level.
Once registered, the property is assigned its national CIN. Owners transitioning from a regional CIR are required to move to the national code; owners should check whether any existing regional code must be aligned with the national CIN.
The CIN must be displayed at the property so it is visible to guests and authorities.
Every advertisement for the property, on any platform or channel, must include the CIN. Failure to display the CIN can lead to penalties; check current levels with Italy's Ministry of Tourism before listing.
Under article 13-ter of D.L. 145/2023, fire extinguishers and combustible gas / carbon monoxide detectors are required where specified. The obligation applies even to non-entrepreneurial rental activity.
For tax, Italy's cedolare secca13 is a substitute flat tax on rental income that replaces progressive income tax and certain property levies. The standard rate for short rentals is 26%, reduced to 21% for income from one property unit per tax period. It is often favourable for non-resident investors but is not automatic and must be elected.
Even where enforcement feels less visible than in major cities, owners remain exposed to fines and platform delisting if the property is not compliant.
Japan: the 180-day cap and minpaku obligations
Japan's Private Lodging Business Act14, known as minpaku, has been in force since June 2017. It is the key national framework for short-term letting of private homes.
The headline constraint is an annual operating cap of 180 days per year. The year is counted from 12 p.m. on 1 April to 12 p.m. on 1 April the following year, and one night counts as one day.
Operators must notify local authorities, post a sign at the notified housing location, and submit periodic usage reports. Local rules can be stricter than the national cap. Buyers should confirm the municipal position rather than relying only on the 180-day national figure.
Condominium rules carry particular weight in Japan. If private lodging is not set out in the condominium management contract, evidence is required that the owners' association has no intention to prohibit it before the property can be operated as a minpaku.
Why this matters before purchase. The 180-day cap is an absolute national ceiling, before any local restriction. In a building with a restrictive management contract, or in a municipality with stricter local rules, the effective operating window can be significantly shorter. That needs to be priced into the income model before signing.
Managed rental and leaseback structures
Some ski properties are sold under a managed rental or leaseback arrangement. In France, the leaseback (résidence de tourisme) model involves the owner selling use rights to a management company that operates the accommodation commercially.
Tourist-let day caps and commune restrictions do not apply in the same way to leaseback because the owner is not operating a meublé de tourisme: the management company is. That changes the legal structure of the rental, but not the underlying property risks or the need to understand the management contract.
Important
Managed and leaseback structures are a different legal regime, not a workaround for the rules in this guide. Treat the VAT and tax mechanics, and the qualifying-services criteria, as a regime to confirm with a French specialist on a case-by-case basis.
Your pre-purchase rental due-diligence checklist
The following ten questions are the minimum due-diligence set before signing on a ski property where rental income forms part of the plan. Each answer is worth confirming in writing by a local specialist, not assumed from the listing or the agent's verbal description.
Is the property legally permitted for use as a second home in this municipality, canton, or province?
Is short-term tourist letting permitted nationally? Has the local authority applied stricter rules?
Is declaration, registration, CIN, or notification to authorities required before letting begins?
Is changement d'usage (or the local equivalent) authorisation needed before tourist letting?
Does the building's co-ownership documentation (règlement de copropriété, condominium contract) permit tourist letting?
Does the energy performance certificate (DPE or equivalent) allow the planned rental use under current and upcoming rules?
Are the relevant safety obligations met, including fire extinguishers and gas / carbon monoxide detectors where required?
Are there annual day caps? Does the local authority have power to reduce them, and has it done so?
Are guest registration or tourist tax collection systems required, and who is responsible for collecting and remitting them?
Does the buyer's tax model use gross or net income? Is LMNP, cedolare secca, or another regime applicable, and has it been confirmed by a specialist?
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I rent out my ski apartment on Airbnb?
It depends on national law, local rules, building rules, and tax compliance. France, Italy, and Japan all impose national registration or notification before listing. Switzerland and Austria require local checks at canton, commune, or province level.
The building's co-ownership rules can prohibit tourist letting regardless of public-law permission. In France, platforms can be required to block further bookings once a principal-residence listing has reached the applicable annual day cap.
Is furnished rental the same as tourist rental?
No. A furnished long-term lease, a bail mobilité, and a furnished tourist let (meublé de tourisme) are distinct legal structures with different minimum terms, tax treatment, and obligations. Treating them as interchangeable is one of the most common drafting mistakes at purchase stage.
Do I need permission from the building?
Often, yes. The règlement de copropriété in France or the condominium management contract in Italy, Switzerland, Austria, and Japan can restrict or prohibit tourist letting regardless of national or local law.
This is one of the most commonly overlooked checks, and clearance from public authorities does not override a private restriction in the building's own rules.
Do rental rules affect resale value?
Potentially yes. A property with a poor DPE rating, a Freizeitwohnsitz designation in Tyrol, or a copropriété ban on tourist letting may be harder to sell to a future buyer who has the same rental plans. The rental constraint is one of the inputs to consider when pricing the property and modelling exit value.
Are managed rental schemes safer?
Not automatically. A managed or leaseback structure shifts operating risk to the management company but does not remove ownership restrictions, condominium rules, or the question of what happens if the operator fails.
Treat managed-scheme guarantees with the same scrutiny as any income projection, and confirm in writing what happens to the property and the income if the operator goes out of business.
Should I buy based on projected rental income?
Only on net income, after tax, management fees, cleaning, compliance costs, tourist tax, and platform fees. Gross booking figures from agents or developers are not a reliable basis for financial planning. Model the net position with a specialist before signing, and stress-test it against a reduced day cap and a stricter local rule.
Next steps
Rental permission is one layer of a wider ownership picture. Before committing to a property where rental income matters, work through the full pre-purchase due-diligence process to confirm title, planning, and survey position. If you are new to overseas ski property acquisition, the five-step guide to buying ski property sets out how each stage of the process fits together. Buyers who need financing should review what lenders typically require from non-resident mortgage applicants before approaching a bank. And for buyers thinking beyond the purchase itself, inheritance tax and succession planning for ski property covers the structural questions that affect how the property passes on.
Buying with rental income in mind?
SnowOnly+ helps buyers check the legal, tax and ownership questions before they commit. We connect you with vetted specialists across local legal advice, tax, currency and mortgage planning, so the rental model is tested before you sign.
Explore SnowOnly+Footnotes
1. Loi Le Meur: Loi n° 2024-1039 du 19 novembre 2024 visant à renforcer les outils de régulation des meublés de tourisme à l'échelle locale. The law introduced national registration, day-cap powers for communes, and revised micro-BIC abatements.
2. CERFA 14004: the official French declaration form used to notify the mayor of the commune that a non-principal-residence furnished tourist let is being offered.
3. Changement d'usage: a French planning procedure that allows a commune to require authorisation before a dwelling is converted to a tourist accommodation, used to protect housing stock for the permanent population.
4. Micro-BIC: France's simplified tax regime for furnished rental income (Bénéfices Industriels et Commerciaux), under which a fixed deduction is applied to gross rental income up to a defined annual revenue threshold.
5. LMNP: Loueur en Meublé Non Professionnel, the French non-professional furnished landlord regime that allows depreciation of the property asset against rental income.
6. DPE: Diagnostic de Performance Energétique, France's energy performance certificate, graded A (best) to G (worst) and required for the sale or letting of residential property.
7. Bail mobilité: a French furnished lease of 1 to 10 months, non-renewable beyond 10 months, designed for tenants with a short-term housing need.
8. Lex Koller: the Swiss Federal Act on the Acquisition of Real Estate by Persons Abroad (ANRA), which generally requires foreign non-residents to obtain cantonal authorisation before purchasing real estate.
9. Lex Weber: Switzerland's Second Homes Act, which prohibits new holiday-home construction in any municipality where the second-home share already exceeds 20%.
10. Tiroler Raumordnungsgesetz 2022: the Tyrolean Spatial Planning Act, whose §13 defines a leisure residence (Freizeitwohnsitz) and whose §13a makes unauthorised leisure-residence use an administrative offence.
11. BDSR: Banca Dati delle Strutture Ricettive, Italy's national database of accommodation structures, operated by the Ministry of Tourism.
12. CIN: Codice Identificativo Nazionale, the Italian national identification code that every qualifying short-let must obtain, display at the property, and include in every advertisement.
13. Cedolare secca: an Italian substitute flat tax on rental income that replaces progressive income tax and certain property levies, available by election.
14. Private Lodging Business Act: Japan's national minpaku law, in force since June 2017, which permits short-term letting of private homes subject to a 180-day annual operating cap and notification obligations.
