Question 1

Is Airbnb banned in the city of Zurich?

Accepted Answer

No, but it is restricted. On 30 April 2026 the Federal Supreme Court dismissed an appeal against the partial revision of the city’s building and zoning code (Bau- und Zonenordnung). The city may therefore no longer count flats used permanently and commercially for short-term letting towards the prescribed minimum residential share (Wohnanteil). In zones with a residential-share requirement that amounts to inadmissibility. According to the city, around 5,320 temporarily let units are affected. Expressly not affected is the occasional letting of your own home while you are away — holidays, longer trips, a room alongside the space you live in yourself. What matters is therefore not the platform but whether anyone still lives in the flat. For your address the answer depends on the zone: the building and zoning code states the residential share that applies there, and in case of doubt the building authority (Bauamt) does.

Question 2

When does the new Zurich rule take effect?

Accepted Answer

In its media release of June 2026 the city named autumn 2026 as the expected date of entry into force, provided no appeal follows. Two duties take effect with legal force: builders must declare the type of residential use in the building application, and permanently commercial uses become subject to a notification duty. Anyone planning today should therefore work from the coming position, not the current one. The reason is economic: a property that may no longer be let permanently under the new rule has to be valued on a long-term rental calculation — and that changes the purchase price you can justify considerably. Anyone paying a price today that only adds up with short-term letting carries that risk alone. Whether existing uses receive a transition period was not publicly settled at the time of our research. The city of Zurich states the current position itself. You have to obtain the information for your address there — we provide operational letting services and do not advise on permit questions.

Question 3

Do I need a building application for Airbnb in Zurich?

Accepted Answer

For a change of use (Nutzungsänderung) to permanently commercial short-term letting, yes — and according to the city that holds even where no building work is involved. This surprises many people: a building application without building sounds contradictory, but it follows from the zoning code attaching to the type of use, not to the fabric of the building. Anyone switching a flat from long-term rental to short-term letting changes the use, even if all they do is put furniture in. This does not apply to the occasional letting of your own home while you are away. Exactly where the line between «occasional» and «permanent» falls will emerge in practice — the city has so far named no figure in days. The building authority (Bauamt) is responsible for the individual case.

Question 4

Which municipalities around Lake Zurich have their own rules?

Accepted Answer

Kilchberg is the case you need to know. On 16 June 2026 the municipal assembly adopted a revised building and zoning code prohibiting hotel-like operations in purely residential zones. In the canton of Zurich that is new — a municipality going further than the city. Approval by the cantonal authorities is pending; the code is not yet legally binding. For the other lakeside municipalities: each has its own building and zoning code, and you cannot infer from the city’s rule to theirs — in either direction. Some are more open than Zurich, others stricter. The only reliable information comes from the building administration concerned. That clarification rests with the owner; we do not take it on and cannot assess admissibility.

Question 5

May I sublet my rented flat on Airbnb?

Accepted Answer

Only with the landlord’s consent. Article 262 paragraph 1 of the Code of Obligations (Art. 262 OR) permits subletting in whole or in part, but with that consent. Paragraph 2 limits when it may be refused: if you do not disclose the terms of the sublease, if those terms are abusive compared with the main tenancy, or if the landlord suffers material disadvantage. Other grounds do not count. A February 2024 ruling of the Zurich tenancy court holds that occasional subletting via booking platforms can be admissible within the agreed residential purpose. Conversely: commercial subletting without consent is a breach of contract and can justify extraordinary termination. The line runs not at a number of nights but at the character of the use.

Question 6

How many days a year may I let?

Accepted Answer

For the canton of Zurich there is no statutory number of days — unlike cities such as Amsterdam or Berlin, where an upper limit is written into the law. That is more uncomfortable for owners than it sounds: a clear figure gives certainty, an indeterminate limit does not. What matters instead is whether the use still falls within the agreed residential purpose or has a commercial character. The reference points are whether anyone still lives in the flat, whether it is let to changing guests in a planned and permanent way, and whether it is available all year. Someone letting their own home during three weeks of holiday is clearly on one side; someone offering an empty second home all year round is on the other. In between lies an area where the assessment depends on the individual case.

Question 7

Can the condominium owners’ association ban Airbnb?

Accepted Answer

Yes, in certain circumstances. In ruling 5A_436/2018 of 4 April 2019 the Federal Supreme Court upheld such a ban. In the case decided, an owner’s daughter regularly let one of two flats in a high-end residential building in Stansstad on Lake Lucerne via Airbnb; the guests made intensive use of the roof terrace, gym, sauna and swimming pool. The association changed its rules to require long-term letting, the owner sued, and the Federal Supreme Court found for the association. The ruling cannot be generalised — it concerned an individual case with pronounced communal facilities. The principle remains: short-term letting in condominium ownership (Stockwerkeigentum) is neither generally permitted nor generally prohibited. It depends on the character of the property and on the rules. Which is why reading the rules belongs before the purchase, not after.

Question 8

What if the association changes its rules later?

Accepted Answer

This is the risk that appears in no calculation. A condominium owners’ association can change its rules, and if it does, a use that was admissible until then can become inadmissible — the case the Federal Supreme Court decided in 2019 ran exactly that way. You can only guard against it to a limited extent: before buying, check not only what the rules say but also whether a change is in the air. One indicator is the mood in the association. Where there are complaints about guests in the communal areas, a change of rules is more likely than in a building where nobody notices the use. The minutes of the last few meetings say more about this than the rules themselves — you obtain them from the property management.

Question 9

Do I have to register my guests with an authority?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and in the canton of Zurich this runs through a dedicated portal. Hosts must register at hotelkontrolle.zh.ch and file every guest notification there electronically. The Zurich city police have issued a guidance note that states expressly: anyone who uses an online platform to let private flats and lets commercially for payment is also subject to the notification duty. One detail is frequently misunderstood: the duty does not concern foreign guests only. The Zurich system records all overnight guests. Registration belongs before the first booking, not after the first inspection — an omitted notification is not a formality and can be a criminal offence. The notification duty rests with the host and is not transferable. We do not take it on — not for managed properties either.

Question 10

What happens if I let without a permit?

Accepted Answer

Four different consequences, depending on which rule is affected: a prohibition of use by the building authority, an extraordinary termination by the landlord, a penal provision for failing to register guests, and a retrospective tax assessment. They run on separate tracks. Under the zoning code a restoration order is possible: the authority can prohibit the use, which hits current bookings and the calculation. Where the landlord’s consent is missing, extraordinary termination is in prospect; tenancy law provides for it expressly in cases of commercial subletting without consent. Where guest notification is omitted, a criminal provision may apply. And where income is not declared, tax law comes into play. None of these consequences follows inevitably, and it usually starts with a letter rather than an order. But they do not arrive simultaneously — so you can let unnoticed for a while and then be caught up with from several directions at once.

Question 11

Does the Zurich rule also apply to business apartments?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and they were a main reason for the revision. The city rule covers flats in permanent commercial use regardless of the channel through which they are let — a business apartment let through its own website or directly to companies falls under it just as an Airbnb flat does. Reporting on the Federal Supreme Court ruling described it in exactly those terms, and the figure of around 5,320 affected units covers both forms. Something practical follows for owners: the escape route of letting to companies instead of via Airbnb does not solve the zoning problem. What counts is the use — a flat without residents, let for limited periods to changing people. A furnished flat that goes to expats on a three-month cycle can fall under it too, even though it touches no booking platform. Anyone planning such a use has to check the zone, not switch the sales channel. The building authority gives that information free of charge.

Question 12

Can I apply for a permit if the zone does not allow it?

Accepted Answer

The route runs through a building application for the change of use — but an application is not an assurance. In zones with a residential-share requirement the rule stands against permanent commercial use; an application there would probably be refused. It does make sense in zones with no or a low residential-share requirement, or in mixed zones. What we advise owners: establish the zone before spending money on an application and on support for it. Information from the building authority about the zone is free; a refused application is not. And allow for time — a building application is not a matter of days. If you want to make the purchase conditional on it, that belongs in the purchase contract as a condition, not as a hope.

Question 13

Does anything change if I live in the flat myself?

Accepted Answer

Considerably — this is the most important distinction in the Zurich rule, and it runs through several areas of law. The rule is directed at flats in which nobody lives and which are let to changing guests all year round. Anyone who lives in the flat and lets it while away, or offers a room alongside, is according to the city expressly not affected. The same pattern in tenancy law: occasional subletting within the agreed residential purpose is more likely to be admissible than commercial subletting, and a February 2024 ruling of the Zurich tenancy court confirmed this. It comes through in tax too — anyone letting owner-occupied property temporarily may reduce the imputed rental value (Eigenmietwert) by the letting period, which is out of the question for an empty second home. And in insurance: household contents policies regularly exclude commercial use, but usually not occasional subletting. Owner occupation is therefore not a side issue but the feature at which four areas of law attach at once.

Question 14

Is there a difference between a whole flat and a single room?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and it comes out in favour of the room throughout. The city of Zurich names the letting of a room alongside owner-occupied space expressly as not affected by the zoning rule. In tenancy law partial subletting lies closer to the agreed residential purpose than complete subletting — Art. 262 OR mentions both forms, but the assessment is regularly milder for a room. One particularity applies for tax: where owner-occupied property is let in part, the imputed rental value (Eigenmietwert) has to be adjusted for the rooms let and the letting period, which presupposes an apportionment by area and time and therefore clean records. Economically, however, the room is the distinctly weaker case: lower nightly rates, constant contact with guests in your own home, a shared kitchen and bathroom — and cleaning that is hard to outsource, because a cleaner will not come into an occupied flat. Anyone doing the sums on legal grounds alone overlooks that.

Question 15

How do we handle the legal position?

Accepted Answer

We do not examine it — and we say so plainly, because the boundary matters. Permits, zoning questions, house rules and tenancy agreements rest with the owner. The reason is not convenience: only information from the municipality is binding. If we say «that will be fine» and the authority later prohibits it, your flat stands empty and our assessment does you no good. What we do: tell you where you have to ask. You learn the zone from the building authority, free of charge. With condominium ownership, read the rules and the minutes of the last few meetings — a planned change appears there before it appears in the rules. With a tenancy, you need the landlord’s written consent. Keep these answers in writing; a verbal assurance helps nobody in two years. We start letting once you have confirmed to us that it is admissible.

Is Airbnb allowed in Zurich? Permits, zoning and house rules