Air conditioning in a rented home in Europe: what a tenant may actually install

Updated September 4, 2026 · Claude AC · 2 sources cited

Roughly a third of European households rent, and in the countries where summers have changed fastest — Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, northern Italy — the rented share is among the highest on the continent. That produces an ordinary summer problem: the person suffering the heat is not the person who owns the wall. What you may install depends far less on your climate than on your tenancy agreement, and the distinction that decides almost every case is simpler than the arguments it generates.

The dividing line: an appliance, or a work on the building

A plug-in portable air conditioner is an appliance. Its refrigerant circuit is sealed at the factory and never opened, and when the tenancy ends it goes back in its box. In legal terms it sits next to a washing machine or a fan heater, and nobody's consent is normally required to own one.

A fixed split system is a work on the building. It needs a core hole of 60 to 80 mm through an external wall, brackets bolted to the façade, a condensate route, usually a dedicated electrical circuit, and a refrigerant connection that under Regulation (EU) 2024/573 may only be made by certified personnel. Every item on that list touches something the landlord owns, and in a block of flats several of them touch something the whole building owns.

Nearly every tenancy dispute about air conditioning comes from treating the second as if it were the first. A hole through a façade cannot be undone at the end of a tenancy in the way a plug can be pulled out of a socket.

What leases across Europe actually require

Tenancy law is national rather than European, so there is no single rule to quote. The pattern is nonetheless consistent across very different legal traditions: changes to the fabric of the dwelling need the owner's written agreement, appliances do not.

Landlord consent is only the first of up to three layers. The building — condominium, community of owners, freeholder — usually has its own say over anything visible from the street, and the municipality may require formal consent on top, as our guide to planning permission for air conditioning in Europe sets out country by country. A landlord who says yes cannot bind the other two.

Option one: the portable unit

For most renters this is the realistic answer, and it is worth knowing what you trade away. A monobloc portable expels hot air through a hose, which means it also expels indoor air; the replacement is drawn in through every gap in the dwelling. That parasitic infiltration is why a portable rated at 2.6 kW behaves in a real room like 1.5 to 2 kW. Expect an EER around 2.6 to 3.2 against 6 to 9 for a fixed split, so each hour of cooling costs roughly twice as much.

Two decisions make most of the difference. The window seal comes first: a fabric kit that closes the opening properly around the hose is the highest-return accessory you can buy, and the tilt-and-turn windows that dominate continental Europe need a purpose-made solution rather than a towel — our guide to portable AC venting in Europe covers the options. The second is the hose count: a dual-hose machine takes its condenser air from outside and does not depressurise the room. Placement, noise and the limits of the format are on our portable air conditioning hub.

Option two: get the landlord to pay for a fixed system

This works more often than tenants expect, because the argument is not about your comfort. A reversible split is a heating appliance for eight months of the year, and in a dwelling heated by electric panel heaters it cuts the heating bill enough to matter to a future tenant — in several countries it also moves the building's energy certificate in the right direction. Frame the request in those terms and offer a slightly higher rent rather than paying the capital yourself: a landlord who funds the work owns the asset and carries the maintenance.

Come with figures. Our guide to air conditioning installation costs in Europe gives indicative ranges by country. As an order of magnitude, and strictly as an indication rather than a quotation, a single fixed split fitted by a certified company commonly falls in a low four-figure range in euros, while a decent portable sits in the low-to-mid hundreds.

Option three: pay for it yourself, in writing

If you are staying several years and the landlord agrees but will not pay, self-funding can be rational — provided the permission is written and covers the end of the tenancy. Verbal consent from a letting agent is worth nothing when the deposit is counted three years later by a different agent.

• Who owns the equipment at the end of the tenancy, and whether the landlord may buy it or must let you remove it.
• If removal is required, who makes good the core hole, the brackets and the façade.
• The exact position of the outdoor unit, agreed from a photograph.
• Confirmation that the landlord has cleared the building and, where needed, the municipality.
• Who pays for annual servicing, and who pays for a repair.
• The installer's F-gas certificate number, which the landlord wants in the file anyway.

One point is not negotiable in the EU: if the unit is ever removed or scrapped, the refrigerant must be recovered by certified personnel. Cutting the pipes and venting the charge is unlawful.

Does a landlord have to keep a home cool?

Almost nowhere in Europe, and this is the answer tenants like least. Habitability standards were written around heating, damp and safety; a minimum winter temperature is a common legal duty, a maximum summer temperature almost never is. Change is arriving through building codes, where overheating assessments for new and renovated dwellings are spreading, but for the existing stock a landlord is generally under no obligation to provide cooling. Where a duty does bite is when the heat comes from a defect the landlord owns: a window that cannot open, a broken shutter, a ventilation system that has failed. Those are repairs, and repairs are enforceable — so report them in writing before buying anything. Beyond that, the free measures matter more in a rented flat than in a house, precisely because you cannot modify the building: our guide to cooling a home without air conditioning ranks them by real effect, and in the northern half of Europe they are often enough on their own.

Frequently asked questions

Can my landlord ban a portable air conditioner?

Rarely in substance, though the tenancy agreement is the place to check. A plug-in appliance is not an alteration, so the usual clauses about works do not reach it. What a landlord or a building can legitimately restrict is the consequence: a hose hung out of a window against building rules, noise late at night, or condensate discharged onto a neighbour's balcony.

Do I need permission to drill a hole for the hose?

Yes — a permanent hole through a wall or a window frame is an alteration, however small, and it needs written consent like any other. This is precisely why window kits exist, and why a reversible sealed panel for a tilt-and-turn window is the standard renter's answer on the continent.

Who pays for servicing a split I paid to install?

Whoever the written agreement says, which is why it should say. In the absence of an agreement the argument runs both ways: the equipment is yours, but it is attached to the landlord's building and a neglected unit can cause damage the landlord will be liable for. The workable compromise is that the tenant funds the annual service while in occupation, and the landlord takes over the moment ownership passes.

Can I take the split with me when I move?

Physically yes, economically rarely. Removal requires certified recovery of the refrigerant, a second certified installation at the new address with a fresh charge, and repair of the wall and façade you leave behind — a combined cost that frequently approaches a new machine. On a short tenancy the calculation is even clearer: buy a portable, which moves with you and holds resale value, and leave anything fixed to owners. Country-level context on ownership rates, heat and rules is on the Europe hub.

Read next

• Permission to install air conditioning in Europe: who has to say yes
• Portable vs split in Europe: renting, rules and the real math
• Too hot to work? Workplace temperature rules across Europe
• What it costs to install air conditioning in Europe
• Air conditioning and the energy performance certificate of your home in Europe

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