Contrary to popular belief, Morocco’s short-term rental market is not operating outside the law. According to legal adviser Amine El Fathi, the sector has been regulated for decades. The real problem, he argues, is the absence of the implementing regulations needed to make the legal framework fully operational.
That gap has left the daily rental market in a legal gray area, affecting property owners, guests and residents of jointly owned buildings while creating opportunities for fraudsters and unauthorized intermediaries to exploit the system.
Speaking to Le360, El Fathi said Morocco first regulated furnished accommodation through the Dahir of Jan. 11, 1932, which requires operators to declare their activity and register guests with both the security authorities and the tax administration.
“Furnished apartment rentals are not outside the law. They have been regulated since 1932,” he said. “However, that legislation was enacted in a completely different context and did not anticipate the emergence of global digital platforms, online bookings or operators managing large numbers of apartments remotely.”
He noted that lawmakers later sought to modernize the legal framework through Law No. 80.14 governing tourism establishments and other forms of tourist accommodation, followed by Decree No. 2.23.441, adopted in 2023, which sets out the procedures for licensing homestays and alternative tourist accommodation.
According to El Fathi, however, the decree leaves key aspects of the licensing system to joint decisions by the Ministries of Interior and Tourism.
Those implementing decisions—including the model operating guidelines (cahiers des charges) and standardized licensing and application forms—have yet to be issued.
“The decree refers to joint decisions by the Ministries of Interior and Tourism to establish the model operating guidelines and standardized licence and application forms,” he said. “Those decisions have yet to be issued, making the practical and uniform implementation of the licensing system extremely difficult.”
As a result, the administration lacks consistent enforcement tools, while investors and property owners remain uncertain about the obligations imposed on them.
El Fathi said that uncertainty often leads owners to believe that purchasing an apartment automatically entitles them to rent it out on a daily basis.
In reality, operators must comply with a range of legal obligations, including registration requirements, tourist accommodation standards, safety rules, insurance, taxation, and the regulations governing jointly owned residential buildings.
“The more this activity becomes regular and organized, the more it takes on the characteristics of a professional or tourism-related business and becomes subject to greater obligations toward both the authorities and customers,” he said.
The legal adviser also pointed to the growing number of disputes within residential complexes, many of which arise from the repeated use of common areas or from tenants subletting apartments without the owner’s consent.
Such practices, he said, frequently create tensions with other residents while giving rise to complex legal disputes.
Another weakness lies in the widespread reliance on informal booking arrangements conducted through messaging applications without a proper written agreement.
“It is true that Morocco’s Code of Obligations and Contracts recognizes electronic documents, but a message such as, ‘The booking is confirmed and the deposit has been received,’ is not sufficient to cover every aspect of the contractual relationship,” he said. “In most cases, it does not specify cancellation terms, the number of occupants, liability for damages or refund procedures.”
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To reduce disputes, El Fathi called for standardized contracts tailored specifically to short-term accommodation. Such agreements, he said, should clearly identify the parties, describe the property, specify the duration of the stay and the rental price, set out cancellation and insurance provisions, include an inventory of amenities and be accompanied by authentic photographs of the property.
He also believes the growing number of fraud and scam cases is not the source of the sector’s problems but one of the consequences of the regulatory vacuum.
“In some tourist areas, apartments are offered for rent without any declaration or license. The person posting the listing may simply be an intermediary or a tenant subletting the property,” he said. “Some fraudsters even use photos of apartments they have no connection with to persuade customers to transfer money.”
Reducing such practices, he argued, requires both completing the regulatory framework and strengthening oversight.
He also urged customers to verify the identity and legal status of service providers, request invoices or receipts, and use bank transfers with a clear payment reference.
For now, El Fathi considers established platforms such as Airbnb and Booking to be the safer option because they provide records of communications and payments, as well as structured dispute-resolution mechanisms.
Ultimately, he argues, the future of Morocco’s short-term rental market depends less on adopting new legislation than on completing the implementing regulations and introducing consistent licensing and oversight mechanisms that protect property owners, guests and residents while bringing an end to the legal uncertainty that has surrounded the sector for years.
