Yes, you would. I am actually working right now on a way to use an ESP8266 or ESP32 as an interface between dumb switches and Home Assistant (via MQTT), but it requires substantial rewiring and, being all DIY, is probably not suited for something that you rent.

For Zigbee switches, depending on your lights it could also be power plugs. Ikea and Philips are again the easy choices if they sell what you want. Depending on where you are based you could also find something that fits in your existing switchboxes.