Yes to short-term rentals in Florence. The attempt by the Municipality of Florence to ban short-term rentals in the historic center, announced in October, was arrested. Tar of Tuscany in fact, it declared the appeal presented by Codacons, Confedilizia, Apartments Florence and Property Managers Italia against the ban on short-term rentals "unproceedable due to a lack of interest". The court found that the ban it had not been included in the Municipal Operational Plan (Poc), effectively making the appeal irrelevant.
Despite the TAR's decision, the Municipality of Florence, represented by the mayor Sara Funaro and by former mayor Dario Nardella, does not see it as a rejection of their measure. Funaro stated firmly: “Let's move forward without delay".
The motivations of the TAR
The TAR, in its decision of 10 July 2024, (following the hearing of 9 May), established that with the approval of the Operational Plan of the Municipality of Florence, "they must the prejudicial effects are considered to have ceased produced by the adoption of the variant to the urban planning regulation" which introduced the ban on short-term rentals in the UNESCO area of Florence. Therefore, the the appeal was declared inadmissible. The court specified that, since the Municipality had excluded the ban from the Poc, the latter is no longer valid.
The court also stated that "urban planning requires unambiguous choices and does not tolerate the coexistence of contradictory rules whose composition would end up being entrusted to arbitrary criteria and uncertain future 'realignments'".
What the law said about the stop to short-term rentals
La Palazzo Vecchio urban planning resolution on short-term tourist rentals, strongly supported by the then mayor Dario Nardella, was approved by the City Council on 2 October, thanks to the votes of the Pd and Lista Nardella, while Iv, the centre-right and the Center group voted against. This measure, the first of its kind in Italy, aimed at regulate the phenomenon of short-term tourist rentals and to block new openings in the historic center. However, the process of the variation to the current Urban Planning Regulation was not yet concluded, being the subject of numerous observations and appeals.
Codacons, Confedilizia, Apartments Florence and Property Managers Italia, together with 30 other representatives, therefore instructed their lawyers to present an appeal to the TAR against what they defined as an "anti-democratic move" by the Municipality of Florence. On May 9th the hearing was held before the TAR which then reserved the decision now filed.
The rule was not in the Poc while awaiting the TAR's judgement
The Operational Plan approved in the first months of the year did not contain the part relating to short-term rentals. This is precisely because the Municipality preferred to wait for the TAR's ruling before including this ban in the Poc. There resolution on short-term rentals was however fully operational until now, with the safeguard measures in force maintaining the ban on new registrations for short-term rentals in the UNESCO area.
Funaro: “We will move forward without delay”
If the Codacons rejoices in the TAR's ruling, seeing its doubts about the legitimacy of the Municipality's resolution confirmed by the new mayor of Florence Sara Funaro does not hold back and reiterates the Municipality's determination to continue with its regulatory measures, underlining the need for a national regulatory framework to address the problem of short-term rentals.
"Let's move forward without delay: in the first useful session of the council I will bring the approval of the variant to reiterate the stop on short-term rentals" declared the mayor of Florence Sara Funaro who also criticizes the government for not doing anything against overtourism: "The inertia of a government that is indifferent to people remains overtourism problems which afflict cities of art such as Florence. I will continue to ask the government for national measures which are increasingly urgent."
From Palazzo Vecchio it is also explained that “the ruling of the Tuscany TAR does not cancel the variant of the Municipality of Florence for the stop to short-term rentals and does not go into the merits of the work done by the Municipality and the legitimacy of the resolution, only recognizing an unacceptable short circuit between the two urban planning instruments, a variant adopted at the Ru and Po approved but not yet effective" .
