Personal Apartments Now Count as Hotels
Published: Monday, Sep 25th 2023, 17:26
Updated At: Friday, Oct 13th 2023, 14:12
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The Swiss National Council has voted in favour of a motion to ease the construction of personal housing for hotel businesses owned by foreign entities. The motion, proposed by Martin Schmid of the FDP, was passed with 103 votes in favour, 78 against and 7 abstentions. The aim of the motion is to address the housing shortage in tourism regions. The motion proposes to exempt these properties from the requirement of obtaining a permit, as the operation of a hotel requires a lot of personnel who need to be accommodated locally, especially in mountainous areas. However, a minority of the Council argued that this would only exacerbate the housing shortage for the local population, and that foreign owners are already able to purchase such properties with a permit. The Federal Council also opposed the motion, arguing that the housing shortage is a problem for everyone and that special treatment of the tourism industry is not appropriate. Despite this, the motion was passed and the Federal Council must now make adjustments to the so-called "Lex Koller".
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