Short-term letting in Gstaad-Rougemont: two cantons, two sets of rules

One destination, a cantonal border down the middle

Seen from the traveller's side, Gstaad-Rougemont is a single holiday region: one railway, the MOB, links the villages, a single ski area straddles the dividing line, and an international clientele moves from one side to the other without giving it a thought. Seen from the owner's side, it is quite another matter. Gstaad, Saanen, Schönried and Saanenmöser form the municipality of Saanen, in the German-speaking canton of Bern. Rougemont is a French-speaking Vaud municipality in the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut. Between them lie a few kilometres of valley and two legal orders with almost nothing in common.

This is the most frequent source of confusion we encounter in the Saanenland. An owner who has completed the formalities in Rougemont instinctively assumes the same logic applies in Schönried; an owner settled in Gstaad for twenty years discovers, on buying a chalet in Rougemont, that they are entering an entirely different system, with an annual cap on nights that does not exist on their own side. Nothing transfers from one canton to the other: not the notification duties, not the permits, not the way tourism levies are collected, not the authorities involved. Only Lex Weber, a federal law, applies uniformly on both sides.

We have devoted a full article to the contrast between Swiss cantonal frameworks: declaring your short-term rental in Valais and in the canton of Vaud. The page you are reading takes the comparison one step further, since here the two regimes sit side by side within one and the same destination.

The Vaud side: in Rougemont, the 90-day rule applies

This is the point with the heaviest consequences, and the one almost nobody explains. Vaud law provides that beyond 90 rental days per calendar year via a platform, a change-of-use permit is required (art. 15 RLPPPL). A dwelling let almost all year round on short stays ceases, in the eyes of Vaud law, to be an ordinary residential dwelling.

This rule only applies, however, in districts affected by the housing shortage, the list of which is set each year by a decree of the Council of State. And the decree of 17 December 2025, applicable to 2026, lists the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut among the districts in shortage. Rougemont is part of it. The conclusion is unambiguous: in Rougemont, the 90-day cap applies, and exceeding it presupposes a change-of-use permit under Title II of the LPPPL.

The contrast with other Vaud resorts is striking. The same decree does not subject the district of Aigle, to which Villars-sur-Ollon belongs: an owner in Villars has no annual quota of nights in 2026, while their valley neighbour in Rougemont does. We set out that case on our page on short-term rental regulations in Villars-sur-Ollon, and comparing the two pages says more than any argument. One essential caveat: the decree is reissued every year, so the list of districts can change in either direction. An owner building a business model on high occupancy must follow that annual publication - which is what we do for the properties we manage.

The exceptions of art. 3 LPPPL: highly relevant for Rougemont chalets

Being located in a district in shortage does not automatically mean being subject to the permit regime. The LPPPL provides for exceptions (art. 3 LPPPL) which, in the particular context of the Pays-d'Enhaut, cover a substantial share of the housing stock. Excluded are notably a dwelling last occupied by the owner or by a close relative, a building containing no more than two dwellings, and a dwelling with a net habitable floor area of 150 m² or more.

Rougemont is a village of chalets. Many properties are detached houses or buildings with one or two dwellings, and the large family chalets frequently exceed the floor area threshold. In other words: the answer to the 90-day question is decided property by property, not municipality by municipality. A historic chalet owned and occupied by a family for decades, a chalet with more than 150 m² of net habitable area and a studio in a small residence are not in the same position, even though they sit on the same street.

This is exactly the kind of check we carry out before any letting begins, with plans and documents in hand, rather than applying a general rule to a stock that is anything but generic. Getting it wrong is costly in both directions: needlessly blocking your calendar when an exception applies, or exceeding a cap you are genuinely subject to.

Still on the Vaud side: municipal notification, guest register and Easycheck-in

The 90-day cap is only one part of the Vaud framework. Since the revision of the LEAE that came into force on 1 July 2022, anyone letting a dwelling for short stays in the canton of Vaud must notify the municipal authorities before the first night (art. 4a and 74c LEAE). The host must also keep a register of their guests (art. 74c para. 3 and 4 LEAE), while the municipality keeps a register of hosts (art. 74d LEAE) containing the host's identity, the precise address and location of the accommodation and its capacity. Supervision of this activity falls to the municipalities.

In Rougemont, this framework is concrete and equipped with tools. The municipality states that hosts must now submit their declarations via the Easycheck-in application of the Pays-d'Enhaut, with separate instruction sheets depending on whether you are a second home owner or a professional host. It also publishes a specific document answering the question of the obligations of owners who list their property on digital platforms. The channel exists, it is identified, and "I didn't know where to declare" no longer holds.

Two further points complete the Vaud picture. First, a municipal permit under art. 103 LATC may be required where the tourist operation of a dwelling amounts to a change of use in planning terms: this is a municipal competence, assessed case by case. Second, if you are a tenant rather than an owner, subletting requires the landlord's prior consent (art. 262 CO, restated by art. 22 RULV); that consent does not replace the notification to the municipality, and the notification does not replace that consent. The two obligations are cumulative.

The Bern side: a different framework, to be checked with the municipality of Saanen

Cross the bridge, and the vocabulary changes along with the language. In the canton of Bern, the architecture of tourism levies rests on three tiers, as described by the canton itself. First tier, the accommodation levy (Beherbergungsabgabe): everyone over 16 who spends the night in the canton pays it, at one franc per night, and the proceeds go entirely to the tourist destinations, mainly for marketing. It expressly covers hotels, guesthouses, group accommodation and campsites, but also holiday apartments and private rooms. Its framework is set out in the cantonal tourism development act and its implementing ordinance.

Second tier, the tourist tax (Kurtaxe): municipalities with a high share of tourism may levy it to fund facilities and events in the interest of guests. The canton makes two points that matter for a second home owner: a compulsory flat rate may be provided for holiday apartments, and collection strictly requires a municipal regulation. Third tier, the tourism promotion levy (Tourismusförderungsabgabe), which targets businesses and self-employed people deriving substantial benefit from tourism, likewise on the basis of a municipal regulation.

In practice, for Gstaad and Saanen: the tourist tax is levied on the basis of the regulations of the municipalities of Saanen, Lauenen, Gsteig and Zweisimmen, and Gstaad Saanenland Tourismus has been mandated by those municipalities to handle it. Liable are natural persons who spend the night in the municipalities of the Gstaad holiday region without being resident there for tax purposes. An owner acquiring a chalet or holiday apartment in one of those municipalities therefore registers with Gstaad Saanenland Tourismus to set up the statement.

Let us be clear about what we are not asserting. The specific rules governing short-term letting on the Bern side - any dedicated notification duty, any restrictions, exact amounts, deadlines - fall to the municipality of Saanen and its regulations in force. They cannot be inferred from Vaud law or from Valais law, and we decline to extrapolate them. Before the first night of a property located in Gstaad, Saanen, Schönried or Saanenmöser, the correct approach is to ask the municipality of Saanen and Gstaad Saanenland Tourismus directly. That is what we do systematically, property by property, as part of our audit.

Lex Weber: the only text genuinely common to both sides

Lex Weber is federal and therefore applies identically in Saanen and in Rougemont, two municipalities that both exceed the 20% second home threshold. Since 2013, the construction of new "classic" second homes there has been frozen. This in no way prohibits letting, but it creates two categories of property that must be told apart: dwellings benefiting from acquired rights, which may be let freely on short stays, and certain more recent dwellings authorised subject to a tourist use restriction, which on the contrary requires regular letting, sometimes under set terms.

That status is verified at the land registry and with the relevant municipality - Bernese or Vaud depending on the property. For an investor it is the first check to make, before even the question of yield: it determines what use you will be able to make of the property. We look at it from the buyer's angle in our guide to buying to let in Gstaad-Rougemont.

The common case of the owner straddling both cantons

In the Saanenland, owning two properties on either side of the cantonal border is nothing unusual: an apartment near the Promenade and a chalet in Rougemont, a property in Schönried and a pied-à-terre on the Vaud side. The owner then lives an administrative reality few destinations impose: two entirely distinct regimes on properties a few minutes apart by train.

That means two points of contact, two systems for declaring nights, two guest cards to hand travellers, two billing timetables, two bodies of regulation to follow over time - and, on the Vaud property alone, an annual cap on nights to steer. Nothing is pooled automatically, and it is easy to transpose a rule wrongly from one canton to the other. Many non-resident owners, of whom there are a great number here, discover this dual regime with their first official letter.

That is precisely the value of a concierge service that masters both sides of the Saanenland: the same teams, the same service standards and unified management of your calendar, but two compliance chains kept separate, each under its own law. You receive a single report; we handle two administrations.

Letting your property lawfully: the path, side by side

In Rougemont (VD): 1) check the property's Lex Weber status at the land registry; 2) determine whether an exception under art. 3 LPPPL applies (dwelling last occupied by the owner or a close relative, building with no more than two dwellings, net habitable area of at least 150 m²) and, failing that, size the calendar below the 90-day cap or file an application for a change-of-use permit; 3) notify the municipality of the letting before the first night and set up the guest register required by the LEAE; 4) obtain access to the Easycheck-in platform for declaring nights and generating the Pass d'Enhaut; 5) check with the municipality whether a permit under art. 103 LATC is required; 6) if you are a tenant, obtain the landlord's prior written consent.

In Gstaad, Saanen, Schönried or Saanenmöser (BE): 1) check the property's Lex Weber status at the land registry; 2) register with Gstaad Saanenland Tourismus, mandated by the municipality, to set up the tourist tax statement; 3) factor the cantonal accommodation levy into your pricing structure; 4) ask the municipality of Saanen about the rules applicable to short-term letting and about its regulation in force; 5) check, as everywhere, the condominium rules and your insurance cover; 6) set up guest data collection from the moment of booking, without which no declaration process holds up over time.

None of these steps is insurmountable taken alone. It is their duplication, and following them over time, that wears owners down - especially when they live in London, Zurich, Geneva or Milan. For the properties we take under management, the entire path is handled and documented, on both sides: it is one strand of the full service of our concierge service in Gstaad-Rougemont, charged at 25% of the net amount collected after deduction of platform fees, transaction fees and cleaning.

This information is provided for guidance and reflects the state of the legal framework at the time of writing. The municipal regulations of Saanen and Rougemont and cantonal practice evolve, and the Vaud Council of State decree on districts in shortage is reissued every year. For any specific situation, refer to the relevant municipality, to Gstaad Saanenland Tourismus or to legal counsel.

Further reading