Renting out a villa in a gated Marrakech residence
By Karim 5 min read
Co-ownership rules cannot ban everything, and a let rarely fails because of a ban. It fails at the gate — a guard without the guests’ names, a shared pool kept for residents, unpaid charges that resurface at the general meeting.
Can co-ownership rules ban short-term letting in Morocco?
Not freely: Law 18-00 on co-ownership limits what they are allowed to restrict. Its Article 31 grants every owner the right to use, let out and dispose of their unit according to its purpose. Article 9 declares void any condition that limits that use, with three exceptions — the purpose, the character and the location of the building. And Article 23 forbids the general meeting from forcing an owner to change the use, or the conditions of use, of their private unit.
A ban voted in after the fact, because neighbours object to the comings and goings, therefore stands on weak ground. A clause written in from the outset, reserving the residence for private dwelling and resting on its stated purpose, deserves a much closer reading. To our knowledge, no published Moroccan ruling has yet settled whether such a clause holds. We will not rule in a judge’s place: where the wording is ambiguous, have your notary review it.
What can a gated residence’s rules control without banning letting?
The common parts and the people who use them: access, the pool, peace and quiet, the charges. The rules set the conditions of use for the roads, gardens, pool and clubhouse, and the law gives them a hold over the occupant: Article 31 requires an owner who lets to hand the tenant a copy of the rules, which the tenant undertakes to respect, along with the decisions of the co-owners’ association. Your guests are bound by rules they have never read.
That is where incidents begin. A midnight arrival stopped by a guard who was given no name, a shared pool closed to non-residents, a late evening that ends in a letter from the syndic. None of these rules forbids letting. Every one of them can cost you a rating, and a rating is paid for on every booking that follows. The table below separates what the law allows from what it does not.
| The rules can | They cannot | Law |
|---|---|---|
| Set the purpose of the units and common parts, and their conditions of use | Restrict the use of your villa beyond the purpose, character and location of the residence | Art. 9 |
| Be amended by the general meeting, by three quarters of the votes | Force you, by a vote, to change the use or conditions of use of your villa | Arts. 21 and 23 |
| Bind your guests, who must be given a copy | Be set aside because the occupant is not the owner | Art. 31 |
| Allocate charges and recover them — a payment order within three months, then a compulsory mortgage | Change the charge split without a general meeting decision or a court ruling | Arts. 36 bis, 37 and 40 |
A residence that dislikes letting rarely reaches for a ban. It reaches for access, the pool and the charges.
Co-ownership or gated development: which law applies to your villa?
Co-ownership rules, as soon as the residence has private common parts — even if your villa has its own land title. A villa in the Palmeraie, at Amelkis or on the Ourika road often has a separate title, and owners conclude that it sits outside co-ownership. That conclusion is hasty: Law 18-00 also applies to groups of villas, adjoining or detached, whose common parts are owned jointly by all the owners.
Law 25-90 on housing developments points the same way: its Article 45 requires co-ownership rules for any development whose roads, green spaces or play areas remain private property, which is the case for a gated residence on private roads. Those rules are filed at the town hall. Alongside them sits the development’s specifications document, which allocates the plots according to their intended use. Two documents to be read together, and to request before you buy: it is one of the questions to ask before investing in Marrakech.
What do we read before letting a villa in a gated residence?
Five points, before the first listing goes live — even for a few weeks a year among friends. The use clause first: “exclusively residential”, “private dwelling only”, a ban on any commercial activity — three phrasings that do not say the same thing. Then the access rules: who sends the guest list to the guardhouse, how far in advance, and until what time an unfamiliar car is let through the gate.
Then the shared facilities: are the pool and clubhouse open to occupants, and to how many guests? Then the charges, which must be up to date, and the latest general meeting minutes, where the proposal not yet voted can be read. The fifth point is written nowhere: who, on the ground, answers the syndic when a neighbour complains on a Saturday night. Meeting decisions are notified within eight days; from London or Paris, it pays to have given the syndic an address where someone opens the post.
These rules are only one layer: Law 80-14 on tourist accommodation is another, separate one, whose framework we set out on our Airbnb property management in Marrakech page. Working with the guardhouse, passing on names and answering the syndic are all part of our property management in Marrakech.
Thinking of letting your villa in a gated residence? We provide a free assessment, with no commitment, within 48 hours.
Frequently asked questions
Can a general meeting ban short-term letting in the residence?
It can vote for one, but such a decision stands on weak ground. Amending the co-ownership rules takes three quarters of the owners' votes under Article 21 of Law 18-00. The same law limits what a vote can impose: Article 23 forbids the general meeting from forcing an owner to change the use or the conditions of use of their private unit, and Article 9 declares void any restriction on the use of a unit that does not stem from the building's purpose, character or location. An owner who considers themselves wronged can challenge the decision before the president of the court of first instance, who rules in summary proceedings (Article 30). To our knowledge, no published Moroccan ruling has yet settled a ban of this kind. If such an item appears on your residence's agenda, we advise you to be represented at the meeting rather than discover the minutes afterwards.
Can the guard at a gated residence refuse entry to guests?
The guard applies the access rules adopted by the co-owners, and everything turns on those rules. Article 20 of Law 18-00 allows the general meeting to decide, by a relative majority of the votes of owners present or represented, on measures that ensure the residents' security and peace — a visitor list, set hours or vehicle checks, for instance. On the other side, Article 31 grants the occupant, tenant or otherwise, the use of the common parts according to their purpose, provided the other owners suffer no harm. A guest announced in the agreed form therefore enters the residence; a guest the guardhouse has never heard of waits on the pavement at midnight, and your rating pays for it. That is why each guest's name and arrival time must reach the guardhouse before the stay, sent by someone the guards already know. A good arrival starts at the gate, not at the front door.
Where can I find the co-ownership rules of a Marrakech residence?
Start with your purchase deed. Article 11 of Law 18-00 requires the seller to make a copy of the rules available to the buyer, and the deed must state that the buyer has read them. If that copy has gone missing, the rules of a registered property are filed and recorded at the land registry office where it stands; those of an unregistered property, at the registry of the court of first instance. For a development whose roads and green spaces remain private, Law 25-90 requires rules drawn up by the developer and filed at the town hall, where the public may consult them. The syndic also holds a copy, together with the minutes of past general meetings, which every owner is entitled to see. Where no rules were ever drawn up, the standard rules set by decree apply. We always ask for the version in force, not the one attached to the sale: it may have been amended since.
Does letting my villa increase my service charges?
Not automatically: the charge split is set by the co-ownership rules and does not change because you let. Each owner contributes to the upkeep of the common parts according to their share, and to collective services according to their usefulness to that unit (Article 36 of Law 18-00). Changing the split requires a general meeting decision by a three-quarters majority, or a court ruling (Articles 21 and 37). The law expressly provides for a revision when the use of a private unit changes; whether short-term letting amounts to such a change is not established. The real risk lies elsewhere: unpaid charges expose the owner to a payment order issued within three months, then to a compulsory mortgage on the villa (Articles 36 bis and 40). We check that charges are up to date before the first booking, because an open dispute weakens every later conversation with the syndic.
Does the reform of Morocco's co-ownership law change the letting rules?
Not so far, because it is not in force. A bill amending Law 18-00 was passed by the House of Representatives on 9 July 2024, but according to the firm ReaConsult it has been neither promulgated nor published in the Official Bulletin. The law that applies remains Law 18-00 as amended by Law 106-12 in 2016. From what is known of it, the reform deals with conciliation, the calling of general meetings and the notification of decisions, not with short-term letting. The co-ownership rules are, in any case, only one of two layers of rules on a let villa: Law 80-14 on tourist accommodation is another, entirely separate one, and it does not yet settle every case of a villa let as a whole. Being compliant with one says nothing about the other. We follow both, and we alert our owners to any published text that changes either of them.
Resources and sources
Keywords
- Gated residence
- Co-ownership rules
- Syndic
- Holiday letting
- Absent owner
- Marrakech