Italian Constitutional Court ruling on Emilia-Romagna rental

The Italian Constitutional Court has invalidated key provisions of a regional law in Emilia-Romagna designed to regulate short-term tourist rentals. In ruling 164/2026, the Court struck down Articles 4 and 5 of Regional Law 10/2025, declaring them unconstitutional.

The invalidated articles required properties used for short-term rentals to undergo a mandatory change in urban designation from residential to tourist-receptive. While the Court acknowledged that managing overtourism and protecting housing availability for residents are legitimate regional goals, it ruled the specific requirements were disproportionate.

The Court noted that the law applied a generalized obligation to change land use across the entire region, regardless of whether tourism pressure was concentrated in specific areas. Additionally, the ruling highlighted that the law failed to distinguish between sporadic rentals and professional business activities, as it lacked a minimum threshold of usage days to trigger the change in designation. This created what the Court described as an unjustified disparity between short-term rental managers and other hospitality providers.

Furthermore, the decision removes the ability of municipalities to impose specific urban planning constraints and percentage caps on these activities through the contested articles. The ruling also noted a disparity in treatment, as non-entrepreneurial holiday homes could maintain residential status while short-term rentals were forced to change classification.