Common practice to provide passport copies for apartment rental in Venice?
 

Hello,
We are renting an apartment in Venice for 3 nights and the owner is asking us to provide copies of our passports (each occupants). Is this a common practice? In Florence and Rome we are also renting, but we are not being asked to provide copies of our passports.

It is not unusual to show your passport and even leave it with the desk clerk at a hotel for an hour or two while he or she records your ID on a form that must be filed with the local police. The hotel completes the form as a courtesy so visitors don't have to go to the police station and register themselves when they reach every town.

Similarly, apartment owners will do this registration process for you. However, this usually happens upon arrival. I've been asked to provide my passport number for an apartment in advance by writing it on the signed contract, but not an actual photocopy of the passport.

Yes - it is very common. Either the passport number and issue date, or a photocopy. If you are very nervous about the photocopy - ask the owner if the #/date will be sufficient.

And if you are also staying at hotels during your trip, you'll have to surrender your passport at least for a while.

Thanks, ellenem. I provided my passport number on the signed contract for now. The owner said that I could email her everyone's scanned passport sometime later. She is not in Venice and only the caretaker will meet us to hand the keys for the apartment.

Our posts crossed - that explains why she wants the photocopies. She wants to register your passports and needs all the info/photocopies for the police and probably doesn't delegate this to the caretaker.

Thanks, janisj.

A lot of apartments are rented "under the table", which is a euphemism for "illegally", and in that case, you may not be asked to provide a passport even when you arrive. It's always best to rent from an above-board owner, because the other owners usually don't care much about pesky safety regulations, either.

Thanks, bclenci.