Safety and compliance in your rental: what to check before winter
A furnished tourist rental is not only a revenue product: it is a home subject to precise safety obligations, several of which are checked at the start of the season. In the Alps, winter concentrates the most serious risks — heating, chimneys, hot tubs, ice — and it is also when your property is occupied without a break. September is the last comfortable moment to bring everything up to standard.
Smoke and carbon monoxide detection: the non-negotiable baseline
Every let property in France must have a smoke alarm meeting the EN 14604 standard, and in a furnished tourist rental it is the owner who installs and maintains it. Check the manufacturing date: most units have a ten-year life and stop working without announcing it. In an Alpine property, add a carbon monoxide detector wherever there is a combustion appliance — wood burner, insert, gas or oil boiler. It is not legally mandatory in every case, but no insurer and no platform will treat its absence as a detail after an incident. Airbnb displays both devices on the listing, and family guests actively look for them. Test both units, replace the batteries before the season opens, and record the date of the test.
Heating, chimney sweeping and technical installations
Chimney sweeping is compulsory in France, typically twice a year for a wood flue, including once during the heating season, under the departmental health regulations. Keep the certificate: without it, an insurer can reduce its payout after a chimney fire. Do the same for the annual gas or oil boiler service, also mandatory, and insist on the written report. On the electrical side, an older installation deserves a professional inspection: compliant consumer unit, 30 mA residual current device, no chained extension leads in bedrooms. Then check the mountain-specific points: frost protection on pipework, draining the system if the property sits empty between lets, insulation on external meters. A frozen pipe in January means two to four weeks of blocked calendar in the middle of peak season.
Hot tubs, indoor pools and outdoor areas: the forgotten risks
An outdoor hot tub has become a major commercial argument in resorts, but it shifts the risk profile. Documented water treatment, a reliable thermometer, a lockable cover when the tub is unused, and posted guidance on immersion time and use by children: these are exactly the points an expert examines after an accident. A private indoor pool remains subject to the safety obligations that apply to unenclosed in-ground pools. The surroundings matter just as much: external staircases, timber terraces and parking access turn slippery from the first night of frost. Plan for anti-slip surfaces, working automatic lighting and a supply of salt or grit the guest can reach. Finally, mezzanine railings, open staircases and balconies must meet the regulatory height — a converted older chalet often falls short without the owner realising it.
How SmartStay secures your property before the season opens
We run a compliance audit before every winter season: testing detectors, logging manufacturing dates, checking chimney-sweeping and boiler-service certificates, inspecting railings, the hot tub and outdoor access. Works are scheduled with our partner contractors in September and October, while their lead times are still reasonable and their rates lower than in a mid-winter emergency. We then centralise every certificate in your owner portal — a file ready to hand to your insurer or the town hall. Finally, we build the safety instructions into the digital welcome guide, in French and English, so guests know how to use the wood burner, the hot tub and the heating system without improvising.
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