As the police begin their checks, one in four Florentines with short-term tourist rentals are said to have not yet displayed their business ID codes yet outside their front doors, reports local newspaper La Nazione.
The legal requirement to show the CIN (codice identificativo nazionale) for short-term tourism rentals came into effect on January 1 and to date only 77.67% have complied with the regulation, according to the Ministry of Tourism website. Florence is running behind compared to the rest of Tuscany (83.5%), while Rome (79.7%), Verona (89.6%) and Venice (91.2%) are all more compliant. Naples is playing by the book at 92% of registered properties. Failure to display the CIN may result in fines of up to 5,000 euro.
In the meantime, the city’s police are on the lookout for leftover lockboxes. The law states that the containers should have been removed from outside STRs by February 25 as operators are now obliged to do check-ins in person and to communicate guest names to police headquarters. Mayor Sara Funaro has given a 10-person squad the go-ahead to get rid of any remaining lockboxes in the city centre from the end of February onwards, in addition to issuing fines of 400 euro to owners of short-term tourism rental properties who have not complied with Article 109 of the Public Safety Consolidated Act (Testo unico di pubblica sicurezza).
“The checks are already underway and we have a map of where the lockboxes are,” explains Florence’s chief of police, Francesco Passaretti. “We will launch proper investigations to understand if they are illegal B&Bs, if tourist taxes are being paid and if they have CIN numbers.”
