Legal liability in short-term rentals: you are liable even when the house is no longer in your hands
Updated 15.09.2026
There is a rule in the Italian Civil Code that hardly any owner knows, and it decides how lawsuits end: whoever has a thing in custody is liable for the damage that thing causes, unless they prove a fortuitous event. You need not have done anything wrong. It is enough that the damage comes from the house.
The house stays in your custody
Article 2051 of the Civil Code is brief: everyone is liable for damage caused by things in their custody, unless they prove a fortuitous event. The Joint Sections of the Court of Cassation have made clear that this is strict liability: the injured party only has to show that the damage comes from the thing, and your diligence does not count.
Handing over the keys does not release you. The guest has use of the house, but the owner remains custodian of the walls and the installations built into them: the guest has no power to rewire the electrics or repair a staircase. If the damage comes from there, you are liable.
For the other parts of the house, those the occupant can deal with, case law looks instead at who is using them. The line is not always sharp, and a guest stays only a few days: everything fixed must be in order before every arrival.
Fortuitous events, and why a burst pipe is not one
To escape liability it is not enough to prove you were careful. You must prove an event outside the house that caused the damage on its own: a natural event, the conduct of a third party, that of the victim. In August 2025 the Court of Cassation ruled that a failed fitting in the water system is not one: when the thing itself breaks or malfunctions, there is no fortuitous event.
The guest’s behaviour matters. If they get hurt through their own carelessness, compensation can be reduced or lost: in January 2026 the Court of Cassation confirmed that negligent conduct by the victim is enough, even if not exceptional or unforeseeable. That conduct, however, is for you to prove.
The evidence that counts is about the condition of the house. For short-term rentals the law requires working gas and carbon monoxide detectors and compliant fire extinguishers in every unit. Installations must be carried out to professional standards, with a declaration of conformity from whoever installed them. The requirements that come with the CIN.
Tourist tax: the debt is yours
For the tourist tax, you are liable for payment to the Comune, with a right of recourse against the guest: if the guest does not pay, the obligation to pay it over stays with you. In January 2026 the Joint Sections of the Court of Cassation confirmed that you are liable for the tax.
Disputes with the Comune therefore go before the tax courts, and late or missing payment carries an administrative penalty of 30 % of the unpaid amount. How it is calculated and paid.
The Questura: not a fine, an offence
Anyone providing accommodation reports guests’ personal details to the Questura within twenty-four hours of arrival, or six if the stay is no longer than that. A missing or late report is not a fine: it is a criminal offence, punishable by arrest of up to three months or a fine of up to 206 euros. The guide to Alloggiati Web.
Proof that you reported is the Alloggiati Web receipt, to be kept for five years. The image of the guest’s ID must be deleted once the report is done. Keeping receipts and online check-in.
Guest data: you are the controller
ID documents, dates of birth, contact details: for the data you collect for the Questura, the tax and check-in, the data controller is you. You decide why and how that data is processed, and you answer for it.
Whoever processes it on your behalf, the management software or whoever runs the house for you, is a processor, and you need a contract with them setting out what they do with that data. Privacy and guest documents and what to ask whoever manages the house.
Insurance
The portals’ cover looks generous, but it applies to bookings made on that portal and has exclusions. Anyone who books directly with you, or who comes into the house to work, cleaners, repairers, is covered by none of it.
In Puglia, from 30 September 2026, liability insurance towards guests is compulsory. And it is the only thing standing between you and a claim for damages. All of a host’s obligations.
| What | Who is liable | Consequence |
|---|---|---|
| Damage from walls or installations | The owner, as custodian | Compensation, unless a fortuitous event |
| Failure of an installation | The owner | Compensation: not a fortuitous event |
| Tourist tax not paid over | The host, liable for the tax | Penalty of 30 % of the amount |
| Guests not reported to the Questura | Whoever provides accommodation | Arrest of up to three months or fine of up to 206 euros |
| Guest data | You, as controller | A contract with whoever processes it for you |
| Liability insurance in Puglia, from 30.09.2026 | Anyone renting, as a business or not | Obligation under regional law |
Two of these liabilities do not wait for an accident. The Questura and the tourist tax are checked on paper: one missed report or payment is enough, even if nothing happened in the house.
How Chilloso solves it
Let us be clear: no software takes liability off your shoulders, and anyone who promises that is misleading you. What decides a lawsuit, though, is evidence, and evidence either exists or it does not. Chilloso keeps a record of what has been done on the house: which job, when, by whom, with the document attached. If in three years someone claims the boiler was never checked, you have the date and the invoice.
The obligations that turn into criminal or tax liability do not depend on your memory: data goes to the Questura on time and the receipt stays in your archive for five years; the tourist tax is calculated on actual stays, not on a number written by hand.
And your guests’ data does not go where it should not: whoever works on your house sees what they need for the job, not the documents or the accounts.
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