Rental contract for foreign students

More and more foreign students are opting to study at Italian schools and universities. A part of them, if entitled, can apply for university accommodation but more and more are choosing to rent an apartment or a room in a shared flat.

Fortunately for the students, they have only few obligations. Later, we will see the specific cases and the necessary documents to be presented.

First of all, a distinction must be made between EU and non-EU citizens. It is well known that students from EU member states and those with equivalent status are considered to be EU.

On the other hand, all those who do not have a citizenship of one of the aforementioned states are non-EU citizens.

For renting to EU citizens, reference must be made to Article 12, paragraph 1, Law 59/1978. In general, to proceed with the signing and registration of the lease agreement, a valid identity document and tax code are sufficient.

For periods of stay longer than 30 days, it is mandatory to notify it to the local public safety authority, Police Headquarters / Commissariat or Municipality in case of lack of these offices, within 48 hours from the delivery of the property. The communication must contain the exact location of the property, the details, and the references of the identity document or identification of the tenant.

As for the renting to non-EU citizens, reference must be made to Articles 7 and 12 of Legislative Decree 286/98. In this case, in addition to the verification of the passport or other identity document, it is necessary to request a residence permit.

The permit must be valid for the entire duration of the stay or be renewed before its expiry. It is always necessary to pay close attention to the expiration date of the residence permit and the renewals of the document throughout the course of the rental contract.

There is an obligation to declare the presence of the non-EU citizen to the local public security authority within 48 hours of delivery of the property or at the beginning of the stay, presenting the registered contract to the Revenue Agency and the documents of both, owner and tenant.

In the event of non-compliance with legal obligations, the owner can be punished with imprisonment from six months to three years and, in particular circumstances, the property can be confiscated

To sum up, the necessary documents:

• For non-EU citizens: passport in order and valid residence permit on which the expiry date is written;
• For EU citizens: an identity document that has not expired.

For both EU citizens and non-EU citizens: it is necessary to possess and present the tax code.