MEDIUM & LONG TERM LETTING
This article looks at the practicalities of renting out your Sicilian property, and is part of our comprehensive series of guides for owners.
Can I host guests who stay for a number of months (‘wintering’)?
It’s certainly possible to arrange longer stays, and these have proven very popular, especially with visitors from the north of Europe. The Sicilian regional government is actively promoting through campaigns like “Sicilia d’Inverno”. For owners, a long-stay winter guest means stable off-peak income with far fewer changeovers, and a different profile of visitor. These are typically retirees, remote workers or couples wanting an extended experience of Sicilian life rather than a peak-season beach holiday.
Contracts for stays longer than 30 days must be registered with the tax office (Agenzia delle Entrate), but can still take the form of a tourist rental contract (locazione turistica) provided the stay is genuinely tourism in purpose rather than residential. If you are unsure how to classify a longer booking, take advice from your accountant (commercialista) before signing.
How Solemar can help
We have a number of regular clients who love to spend their winters in Sicily, and through collaborations across the Solemar Group, we are always discovering more. This is especially true in Central Palermo, Porticello and Santa Flavia, as well as Cefalù, where our language school Solemar Academy is a big draw.
Our collaborations with the film and media industry have also created demand, with the annual possibility of film crews renting out your Sicilian property for two months or more.
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Is it better to find a long-term tenant (residential leases) than to host tourists?
We can understand the thought process that wonders whether all this work might be avoided with a single long-term residential tenant. However, for most owners, this generates significantly less income than tourist letting. There are also legal risks which are worth understanding fully before committing.
Italian tenancy law is strongly weighted in favour of tenants. The standard residential lease runs for four years with an automatic four-year renewal, during which rent cannot be raised beyond the national cost-of-living index. If something goes wrong and you need to recover your property, the eviction process (sfratto) typically takes between six and eighteen months through the courts, and can extend even longer if the tenant has minor children, is elderly or is unemployed. Of course, renting out your Sicilian property on a long term lease also removes your ability to use the property yourself at any stage.