Short-term rental in Villeneuve: what apartment owners need to know in 2026

If you own an apartment in Villeneuve and you're thinking about listing it on Airbnb or Booking.com, here's the short answer: in 2026, you can do it — and without the 90-day cap that applies in neighbouring Montreux and other Vaud communes on the housing-shortage list.

That said, "no 90-day cap" doesn't mean "no rules." Canton Vaud still requires a formal declaration before your first booking, tourist tax collection, and a written guest register. This guide covers every obligation — and explains why Villeneuve's situation may look different again in 2027.

What the LPPPL actually says — and why it doesn't apply to Villeneuve in 2026

In 2023, Canton Vaud introduced the Loi sur la préservation et la promotion du parc locatif (LPPPL) — a law designed to protect long-term rental housing in areas where finding an apartment is genuinely difficult. Title II of the LPPPL is the part that restricts short-term rentals: in any district the State Council officially designates as a "housing-shortage" zone, renting your apartment short-term for more than 90 days per calendar year requires a formal changement d'affectation — a change-of-use permit issued by the Canton.

The critical mechanism is the shortage list. Each December, the State Council publishes an updated arrêté naming which districts meet the legal threshold (a vacancy rate below a defined floor). Only those districts face the 90-day cap and the change-of-use requirement.

For context, the nine districts on the 2026 shortage list are all concentrated around Lausanne, the Vevey-Riviera area, and Morges — communes where apartment vacancy rates have been chronically low. The Aigle district, which runs along the eastern end of Lake Geneva and into the Rhône valley, has not crossed that threshold.

This is directly relevant to Villeneuve owners. If you'd been waiting to list because you assumed the same 90-day rules as Montreux apply to you — they don't, at least for now. Montreux sits in the Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut district, which is on the shortage list. Villeneuve does not.

What still applies: your cantonal obligations under LEAE

Being outside the LPPPL shortage zone doesn't exempt you from Canton Vaud's broader short-term rental framework. Since 1 July 2022, the Loi sur l'exercice des activités économiques (LEAE) has imposed three baseline obligations on every host in the canton, regardless of which district they're in:

• Declaration before the first booking (LEAE art. 74c al. 1): you must notify your commune of your rental activity before you accept any guest. There's no grace period and no exception for occasional rentals.
• Guest register (LEAE art. 74c al. 3-4): you must record the name, nationality, identity document number, and exact dates of stay for every guest, every stay.
• Cooperation with the commune's register (LEAE art. 74d): the commune maintains an official register of short-term rental properties in its territory. Your declaration feeds into that register.

These obligations exist to ensure tourist taxes are collected, to give communes visibility over their housing stock, and to align Vaud's framework with federal reporting requirements. They are not connected to the housing-shortage designation — they apply everywhere in the canton.

Step-by-step: how to start renting your Villeneuve apartment

1. Contact the Commune de Villeneuve
   Before you do anything else, contact the commune's building or administrative department to understand what the local declaration process looks like. The cantonal LEAE sets the obligation; communes handle the paperwork. Ask specifically about the declaration form for location touristique de courte durée and whether any local authorisation is required in addition to the cantonal declaration. Villeneuve's municipal offices are at Place de la Mairie, 1844 Villeneuve (phone: 021 967 40 00).
2. File the LEAE art. 74c declaration
   Submit the declaration to the commune before your first booking goes live on any platform. Keep a copy. Some communes process this via a standard cantonal form; others have local variants. If you're unsure which form to use, the Direction générale du territoire et du logement (DGTL) can advise on 021 316 74 11.
3. Set up your tourist tax collection
   If you list on Airbnb, the platform collects and remits the Villeneuve tourist tax automatically through its agreement with the Union des communes vaudoises (UCV). If you list on Booking.com, VRBO, or your own website, you must collect the tax from guests yourself and remit it to the commune on the schedule they specify. Contact the commune's finance department to register as a collector.
4. Create your guest register
   Set up a log — paper or digital — that records for every stay: full name, date of birth, nationality, identity document type and number, country of issue, and exact check-in/check-out dates. You can use a spreadsheet, a property management system, or even a paper notebook. What matters is that it's complete and available for inspection if the commune asks.
5. List on your chosen platforms
   Once the declaration is filed and your record-keeping is in place, you're free to list. There's no cap on the number of nights you can rent in 2026. You can operate year-round if demand supports it.
6. Declare rental income to the AFC
   Short-term rental income is taxable in Switzerland. You declare it as income from immovable property on your cantonal and communal tax return. You can deduct actual rental expenses (cleaning, platform fees, maintenance, depreciation) against that income. Get a receipt for every deductible expense.

Tourist tax: who collects it and how

Every overnight guest in Villeneuve pays a taxe de séjour — a tourist tax levied by the commune. The rate varies by commune and accommodation category, but for private short-term rentals in the Aigle district it's typically a few francs per person per night. The key question is who actually collects it from your guests.

If you list on Airbnb: Airbnb has a blanket agreement with the Union des communes vaudoises (UCV) to collect and remit tourist taxes for Vaud communes. Airbnb adds the tax to the guest's total at checkout, collects it, and remits it to the commune on your behalf. You don't need to do anything beyond the initial declaration.

If you list on any other platform (Booking.com, VRBO, HomeAway, your own website, or direct bookings): you are responsible for collecting the tax from each guest and remitting it to the commune yourself, on the reporting schedule they set — usually quarterly or annually. Contact Villeneuve's communal finance department to register as a tourist-tax collector and to get the current rate and remittance schedule.

The guest register you're required to keep

Under LEAE art. 74c al. 3 and 4, every short-term rental host in Canton Vaud must maintain a written record of all guests. The same obligation applies to hotels. There's no minimum stay threshold — even a one-night booking must be recorded.

For each stay, the register must include:

• Guest's full name and date of birth
• Nationality and country of residence
• Identity document type (passport, national ID card, residence permit)
• Document number and country of issue
• Exact arrival and departure dates

Most property management apps (Lodgify, Hostaway, Smoobu) include a guest registration module that collects this data automatically. If you manage bookings manually, a simple spreadsheet works fine. The commune can request access to your register; you must be able to produce it promptly.

There's no required format, no submission deadline — it's a record you maintain and make available on request. The practical approach is to send guests a pre-arrival message asking them to confirm their identity document details, and log that information as soon as they reply.

Income tax: what you owe the AFC

Short-term rental income is taxable in Switzerland at cantonal, communal, and federal levels. It's treated as income from immovable property — not as self-employment income, unless you're running a genuine hospitality business with services beyond accommodation.

What you'll declare on your tax return:

• Gross rental income received (all platforms combined)
• Less: allowable deductions (cleaning costs, platform commissions, insurance, maintenance, consumables, proportional mortgage interest if applicable)
• Net income is added to your other income and taxed at your marginal rate

If you're renting your primary residence while you travel, only the portion of the year it's rented generates income. The cantonal tax authority (Administration fiscale cantonale, AFC) publishes guidance on the deduction rules. Consider using a tax advisor for the first return — the rules around proportional expense deduction for mixed-use properties are worth getting right.

The 2027 risk: what could change

The Aigle district's exclusion from the LPPPL shortage list isn't permanent — it's an annual determination. Each December, the State Council publishes a new arrêté based on updated vacancy rate data. If the Aigle district's vacancy rate falls below the legal threshold in a future survey, the district could be added to the shortage list and the 90-day cap would apply starting the following year.

This isn't a theoretical risk. Several districts moved onto the shortage list between 2023 and 2026 as Vaud's housing market tightened. The eastern Lake Geneva area has seen rising demand, and vacancy rates don't always move in a predictable direction. Prudent owners structure their rental activity so they could absorb a 90-day cap without catastrophic loss of income if it were imposed — for example, by building direct-booking relationships that allow flexible scheduling.

If you'd like to understand how Montreux — which is already on the shortage list — handles the 90-day rule and change-of-use process, see our full Montreux short-term rental registration guide. It shows exactly what a future Villeneuve compliance process would look like if the district is added to the list.

Full compliance checklist for Villeneuve short-term rental

• Contact Commune de Villeneuve to understand the local declaration process
• File the LEAE art. 74c declaration before your first booking
• Confirm tourist tax collection method (automatic via Airbnb, or manual for other platforms)
• Register as a tourist-tax collector with the commune if not using Airbnb exclusively
• Set up a guest register (digital or paper) capturing all required identity data
• Add a pre-arrival message to your booking flow requesting guest ID details
• Keep receipts for all deductible rental expenses
• Declare rental income on your annual cantonal tax return
• Check the December 2026 arrêté to confirm Aigle's status for 2027
• Contact a tax advisor if you're uncertain about expense deductions or mixed-use rules

Frequently asked questions

Source: Canton Vaud, Arrêté du Conseil d'État du 17 décembre 2025 désignant les districts et communes touchés par la pénurie de logements (LPPPL), retrieved 2026-07-03, vd.ch PDF. This article reflects the regulatory situation as of July 2026. Rules are subject to annual reassessment by the State Council. Always verify with the Commune de Villeneuve or a qualified legal adviser before listing.