Key boxes banned in Milan: how to let guests in (and who does it for you)
Since January 2026 key boxes in Milan can no longer be installed on poles, gates, fences and street furniture: fines from 100 to 400 euros plus removal. What is still allowed and how to let guests in.
Regulations · 10 September 2026
By Stefano R., Comfort Home’s contact for hosts and property managers
7 min read
Since January 2026, in Milan key boxes can no longer be installed on public land: lamp posts, road signs, fences, gates, street furniture and even private structures that face or protrude onto the street. The City Council decided it on 4 December 2025 by amending the Urban Police Regulation: a fine from 100 to 400 euros, plus removal costs, and removal can happen without notice.
For anyone running a short-term rental the practical question is one: how do I let guests in, and who hands the keys to the team doing the turnover? In this guide we report what the resolution says with a link to the official source, what is still allowed, how the rules on guest identification come into it and which alternatives hold up in daily practice. This is not legal advice: for your specific case, your adviser's opinion applies.
What did the Milan City Council decide about key boxes?
The City's official statement is clear. By amending the Urban Police Regulation (article 90), the City Council banned the installation of key boxes on elements of street furniture, road signs, fences, gates, lamp posts or other structures placed on public land, and the ban also covers private structures that face or protrude onto public space. The measure came into force thirty days after the resolution of 4 December 2025.
The consequences for those who do not comply: the devices can be forcibly removed by the competent offices, without notice, with removal costs charged to those responsible, in addition to an administrative fine from one hundred to four hundred euros. The reasons cited by the City are urban decorum, occupation of public land without authorisation and safety. The full text is in the Comune di Milano statement of 4 December 2025 (in Italian).
Where are key boxes still allowed?
The ban concerns public space and what faces onto it. A key box installed inside the building, for example in the entrance hall or next to the letterboxes, does not fall under the municipal ban, but it remains a condominium matter: it must be approved by the owners' assembly, as reported in idealista's summary of 7 January 2026 (in Italian). The same applies to access systems that do not occupy public land, such as electronic locks on the apartment door.
In practice: if your key box hangs on a gate, a pole or a railing facing the street, it has to go; if you want to keep one inside the building, you need the condominium's approval, in writing.
How does guest identification come into it?
The key box ban adds to another rule, which applies across Italy: whoever hosts must identify the people staying. In November 2024 a circular from the Ministry of the Interior required identification in person; in November 2025 the Council of State clarified that self check-in is not banned outright, but requires visual identification of guests, even remotely, with tools that verify in real time that the document matches the person. This summary too is in the idealista article cited above; for how it applies to your case, ask your adviser.
The practical result is that «I leave the keys in a box and that's it» no longer holds in Milan, neither under the municipal regulation nor under the identification rules. You need an access method that is lawful and lets you know who is coming in.
Which alternatives hold up for letting guests in?
There are five workable routes. None is right for everyone: the choice depends on how many apartments you manage, where you live and how much you want to delegate.
- Key handover in person: the simplest and safest in terms of identification, but it requires someone on site at every arrival, including evenings and holidays
- An appointed person or a welcome service that receives the guest, checks the document and hands over the keys on your behalf
- An electronic lock with a temporary code on the apartment door, not on public space, combined with a remote identification procedure
- A key box inside the building, with the written approval of the condominium assembly, always combined with identification
- Real-time video identification before arrival, with tools that verify the match between document and person, as required by the Council of State ruling
What changes for remote hosts and for the turnover team?
The ban affects two different kinds of access: the guests' and that of whoever comes in to clean. For guests, see above. For the team doing the turnover, the most stable solution is to define the method once: keys handed to the team, or the access system you already use, provided it is lawful and always the same, written in the apartment's file. In our case we define it at the inspection and it does not change from one visit to the next.
For those managing from a distance, the key box ban is the typical case in which someone on site is needed: whoever hands over the keys, whoever comes in for the turnover, whoever checks that the apartment is ready. How to organise operations without being there is described in how to manage an Airbnb remotely.
How can we help?
Comfort Home is a cleaning and turnover company for short-term rentals in Milan: seven days a week, holidays included, we enter apartments to clean, change the linen, restock supplies and check the property, with an access method defined at the inspection and a time-stamped photo report at every visit. On request we take your guests from Linate, Malpensa, Orio al Serio, Milano Centrale and Porta Garibaldi to the front door, with a regular licence: an accompanied arrival is also an arrival in which the guest is not looking for a box on a pole.
The services are described in turnover cleaning for short-term rentals and guest transfer; who we are is in about us. If you want to rethink access to your apartments after the ban, or work out together how to get guests to the door, request a free inspection.
Frequently asked questions
Answers to the most common questions.
They are banned on street furniture, road signs, fences, gates, poles and private structures that face or protrude onto public space (art. 90 of the Urban Police Regulation, resolution of 4 December 2025, in force since January 2026). Inside the building they remain a condominium matter.
From one hundred to four hundred euros, plus removal costs: the City can remove the devices without notice and charge the costs to those responsible.
It is not banned outright, but the guest must be identified: according to the Council of State ruling of November 2025, visual identification is allowed even remotely, with tools that verify in real time that the document matches the person. For your case, ask your adviser.
With a method defined once at the inspection and written in the apartment's file: keys handed to the team or the access system you already use, provided it is lawful. It does not change from one visit to the next.
On request we take your guests from airports and stations to the front door, with a regular licence. If you want to work out how to organise the welcome on arrival, let us discuss it at the inspection.
The related service
Guest transfer
Transfers on request for the guests of your apartments, on arrival and departure, from Linate, Malpensa, Orio al Serio, Centrale and Garibaldi. We run it ourselves, fully licensed.
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Do you need to rethink access to your apartments?
Request a free inspection: together we define how guests and the turnover team get in, and how to get people to the door.