Hello,
This is my first post as we have only recently published our Airbnb listing.
Having lived in Switzerland for over 20 years, I wanted to do things correctly. Therefore, I researched in my commune (Montreux) and filled out all of the necessary forms.
I have two questions for the community that I hope you can help me with:
1. How did you get approval from your neighbours to list your property? We own a private house, with a private entrance, plenty of private parking and are not in close proximity to any neighbours. We intend to let an independent apartment within our house for airbnb guests. Only 2 people can stay at any one time. However, when I filed our papers with the commune they immediately responded that they will not grant us permission to let our private property without the consent and signature of all owners of the apartment block that borders our property. There is a forest and a driveway between our properties. We can't see onto their property and they can't see onto ours. If we can't get them to agree to sign can the commune really restrict us from letting our independent apartment? I would greatly appreciate any experience other hosts have had in this area.
2. Tax de séjour - it is not clear to me if we need to collect this directly from our guests or if Airbnb does it. Other cantons are listed but not Vaud. The commune has sent me a spreadsheet that they say I need to send to them once per week with our guest and reporting for the tax and police. Any advice on this is also welcomed.
Thank you in advance for your help and support. We have our first guests booked as of July 31st and I am now worried that we will be fined for not having everything in order beforehand. I don't know why I am surprised but this as I have lived here all of my adult life but somehow I was. We have put so much effort into getting our lovely home ready for guests that I am feeling rather discouraged at the moment. We moved here less than a year ago and because of Covid don't know any of our neighbours. And I fear one of them won't sign the acceptance just because, for no reason other than they don't want another car on our small road, or who knows why.
Dejah
