Italy AirBnb host asking for passport info plus two off-the-books payments. Very skeptical

The Reporting your presence is required in Italy, which the host must comply with.

The likelihood is high that they are asking for the passport image beforhand so that they can fill out the form (twice) so that all you have to do is sign it upon arrival.

If you don’t want to do this, print out the corresponding form, fill it out properly and tell them that you will give to them upon arrivel.
(or send them all the information asked for in the form)

The host may/must want to varify the data contained in the form against your passport/ID.

for those staying in hotels or other reception facilities the registration form submitted to the hotel management upon check-in

• For non EU-Citizens: Page 4 of PDF: Short stays: Report on arrival

For EU-Citizens this is not strickly required, but…

If they decide not to report their presence, they will be deemed to stay in Italy for a period exceeding three months, unless proven otherwise.

• Print single Page: ‘Declaration of presence’ for Eu nationals

Note:
Each form has 2 sides, where you must fill out the same information

• the second is intended for you as proof of registration

The hotel will provide a copy of this form to the foreign guest who can show it to police officers, if requested.

Italy:

European Union citizens

• from European Union citizens | Polizia di Stato

Reporting your presence
Union citizens or their family members, depending on the length of their stay, can report their presence to a police office, filling out the relevant form (‘Declaration of presence’ for Eu nationals). If they decide not to report their presence, they will be deemed to stay in Italy for a period exceeding three months, unless proven otherwise.

Hence, EU citizens who intend to stay for less than three months are not subject to the obligation of reporting their presence or to any other formalities.

If they do not report their presence in Italy, they must be able to prove that they have not stayed in Italy for longer than three months.

In case they cannot provide any evidence of their entry, they will be deemed to stay in Italy for a period exceeding three months.

If they decide to report their presence, they need to follow the procedures set forth in the relevant decree by the Minister of the Interior. Until the decree is issued, they can report their presence to the local police office, filling out the relevant form.

Foreign nationals [non EU-Citizens]

• from Entering Italy | Polizia di Stato:

Foreigners who stay in Italy for visits, business, tourism or study for periods not exceeding 3 months are not required to apply for a residence permit. Instead, they must report their presence in the country, following one of the procedures mentioned below:

• aliens arriving from a non -Schengen country must report their presence to the border authorities and obtain a Schengen stamp in their travel document on the day of arrival. This stamp is considered the equivalent of the declaration of presence;

• aliens arriving from countries which apply the Schengen Agreement must report their presence to the local Questura (central police station in the province) filling out the relevant form (dichiarazione di presenza), within 8 days of their arrival; for those staying in hotels or other reception facilities the registration form submitted to the hotel management upon check-in, signed by the foreign guest on arrival, constitutes the declaration of presence. The hotel will provide a copy of this form to the foreign guest who can show it to police officers, if requested.

Note:
The original text link is faulty (Link to form for EU-Citizens)

Sources:

• Reporting presence for short stays (<3 months) – Your Europe
  • Italy
    • PDF: ‘Staying in Italy legally’: A guidebook by the Ministry of the Interior
    • PDF: Minister’s decree on short stays 07/26/07 [it]
    • European Union citizens | Polizia di Stato
      • PDF: ‘Declaration of presence’ for Eu nationals
    • Foreign nationals | State Police
      • Entering Italy | Polizia di Stato
        • PDF: Short stays: Report on arrival

1) Asking for passport info: it’s legal and actually required of them

Asking to submit photos of passports: not very legal

What I generally do is just provide the passport info, saying that they can verify those on arrival when we check in. I do not submit photos of my passport to anyone.

3) The final cleaning fee should be included in the AirBnB total. Refuse to pay it if they are asking for it outside of that.

2) The tourist tax is outside of the AirBnB total.

Asking for a copy of a passport is quite common. Whether it’s legally required I can’t answer, but the more problematic part is asking for the cleaning charge in cash. This is against Airbnb’s terms.

If a host asks you for more money than what you paid on the site and the extra charge wasn’t stated in the listing or in the message thread, you can dispute the charges in the Resolution Center. Never pay a host directly for these charges.

You should tell the host to request the money via the “Resolution Center”, and then dispute it if the charge wasn’t stated on the listing. Furthermore, you should make sure you only communicate with the host on this matter via the Airbnb messaging facility, to ensure you have evidence.

Airbnb have added an exception to this policy for local taxes. If the tax is disclosed on the listing, the host may ask for it to be paid in cash on arrival.

This host is essentially charging you an extra €140 beyond what the listing stated. This is gaming the system, and Airbnb will likely ban him for doing it.