Zurich restricts short-term accommodation in residential areas
In future, the City of Zurich will be able to impose stricter restrictions on business apartments and professional short-term lettings in residential areas. Following the Federal Supreme Court’s ruling, the revision to the BZO (Zoning Ordinance), which was adopted in 2021, is expected to come into force in autumn 2026. This will place regulatory pressure on a stock of over 5,300 flats.
In Zurich, part of the temporary housing supply is set to face tighter regulatory controls. Following the Federal Supreme Court’s endorsement of the city’s position, the amendment to the Building and Zoning Regulations – which has been on hold since 2021 – is expected to come into force in autumn 2026. For owners, operators and developers of serviced apartments in residential zones, this significantly changes the rules of the game.
The crux of the decision lies not with individual platforms, but with the issue of usage in residential areas. Zurich aims to prevent flats within the prescribed residential quota from being permanently withdrawn from the regular rental market and systematically operated as short-term rental units. This applies to professional Airbnb models as well as commercially managed business apartments.
More licensing requirements
Under the new regulations, the nature of residential use must be disclosed in planning applications. Furthermore, a change of use alone will also require authorisation, even if no structural alterations are made to the building. In practice, this means that anyone wishing to convert flats in residential zones to a short-term letting model must expect stricter requirements and greater scrutiny. At the same time, the city gains a more effective tool to curb unauthorised changes of use.
The size of the segment affected is particularly significant. According to available figures, Zurich had around 5,320 apartments as at the end of September 2025. These account for 2.2 per cent of the total housing stock and are heavily concentrated in locations close to the city centre. It is precisely in those areas where the rental housing market is particularly strained that the competition for use between permanent residential accommodation and temporary business models becomes apparent.
Reallocation rather than expansion
It remains to be seen how consistently existing properties in residential-only zones will actually be reallocated to long-term housing. Politically, however, the direction is clear. The City Council already supports the aim of further restricting short-term lettings and is working on a counter-proposal to an initiative seeking to limit short-term lettings to a maximum of 90 days per year. This proposal is to be submitted to the Municipal Council by 4 January 2027 at the latest.
For the property market, this is more than just a minor amendment to planning law. In residential zones, flexible, high-yield short-term accommodation is losing its planning certainty. Anyone holding property portfolios, considering acquisitions or calculating the costs of change of use will, in future, have to distinguish more precisely in Zurich between traditional residential use, serviced accommodation and commercial short-term use.