Holiday lets in Spain: who decides and which licence you need

Buying a flat or house in Spain does not give you the right to let it to tourists. Three levels decide: the region, with its tourist registration or licence; the town hall, which checks compatibility with the local plan; and the building's community of owners, which since April 2025 votes by a three-fifths majority. On top of that, the seller's tourist registration often does not pass to the new owner. If you are buying to let, check all three levels before you sign the reservation, not afterwards.

The national register and the community of owners

The single national rental register and its number (NRUA) no longer exist: the Supreme Court annulled them in rulings of 19 May, 21 May and 1 June 2026. What remains is the Digital Single Window (Ventanilla Única Digital), through which platforms send the state activity data on listings. The listing shows the registration number from the region's tourism register. EU Regulation 2024/1028, applicable since 20 May 2026, requires platforms to display that number wherever a registration procedure exists.

The community of owners matters as much as the region. Since 3 April 2025, a new tourist let in a building under propiedad horizontal needs the prior, express approval of the owners' meeting, by three fifths of the owners who also hold three fifths of the shares (Horizontal Property Act, art. 7.3 and 17.12). With the same majority the community can restrict or ban the activity, not retroactively, and raise that flat's service charges by at most 20%. Owners who were already letting legally to tourists with a regional registration before that date may carry on (second additional provision of the LPH).

• 20% — Ley 49/1960 Propiedad Horizontal (redacción LO 1/2025), art. 17.12, párrafo segundo · Checked: 17/10/2026

Rules in each region

Each region (comunidad autónoma) regulates tourist homes with its own law and its own register. The usual route is a declaración responsable filed with the regional tourism register, with the cadastral reference, plus a town-hall report on planning compatibility. Several regions changed their rules in 2025 and 2026, so information from a year ago may be out of date.

Catalonia: in the 262 municipalities listed in Decreto-ley 3/2023, a tourist home needs a planning licence valid for five years, there can be no more than 10 tourist flats per hundred inhabitants, and they are allowed only where the local plan permits. The Constitutional Court upheld the rule (STC 64/2025).

Elsewhere, some rules hit buyers directly. In several regions the tourist registration does not pass to the new owner, and a fresh declaration is needed after the purchase. Some regions or islands forbid new tourist homes in apartment buildings or require a minimum age of the building, and in some the town halls can limit or suspend new registrations by area. The table on this page lists each region's rule with the date it was checked.

Before you sign, confirm the rules with the region's tourism register and the town hall.

• 10 — Decreto-ley 3/2023 Cataluña, DA 27ª TRLU (DF 1ª DL 3/2023) · Checked: 17/10/2026
• 262 — Decreto-ley 3/2023 Cataluña, anexo · Checked: 17/10/2026

What to check before you buy

• The community's statutes and minutes: any ban or limit on tourist lets, and whether the meeting has voted by three fifths.
• Town hall: planning compatibility of tourist use at that address.
• Region: requirements for the property, and whether the seller's registration transfers or a new declaration is needed.
• The property's individual cadastral reference: usually required in the declaration and in contracts.
• The registration number shown in every listing, on every platform.
• Liability insurance that covers tourist use.
• The data platforms send to the Digital Single Window: it must match what you declare to the tax office.

Tax on holiday-let income

If you are not resident in Spain, you pay non-resident income tax (IRNR). A resident outside the EU and the EEA pays 24% on gross income, with no expenses deducted. A resident of the EU, or of an EEA country with tax information exchange, pays 19% on net income and can deduct the expenses related to the let (TRLIRNR, art. 24 and 25).

The return is modelo 210. Under Orden HAC/623/2026, rental income can be grouped into one annual return instead of quarterly filings.

If you also offer hotel-type services — cleaning during the stay, changing bed linen, a reception — the activity may become subject to VAT (IVA, Ley 37/1992, art. 20.Uno.23º). Talk to a tax adviser before offering them. The other yearly taxes are in the owner taxes guide.

• 19% — RDLeg 5/2004 TRLIRNR, art. 25.1.a · Checked: 17/10/2026
• 24% — RDLeg 5/2004 TRLIRNR, art. 25.1.a · Checked: 17/10/2026

Yield: gross and net

Gross yield — a year's income divided by the price — says little on its own. Net yield subtracts what the let costs to run: cleaning and laundry between guests, platform commission, utilities, IBI, community fees, insurance, maintenance and IRNR. Holiday lets are also seasonal: summer occupancy does not repeat in winter, and a few empty weeks weigh on the year's result.

Run the numbers with your own assumptions for occupancy and nightly rate, and compare them with a long-term let. A calculation is not a forecast and not a promise of income: rental yield calculator.

What buying gives you

• Ownership of the property, registered in your name in the Land Registry.
• The possibility to apply for tourist registration, if the region, the town hall and the community of owners allow it.
• The right to use it yourself or to let it as someone's main home.

What buying does not give you

• A tourist licence or registration: you apply separately and it can be refused.
• The seller's registration: it does not pass automatically; in several regions a new declaration is needed.
• An exemption from the community of owners' vote.
• A national registration number: the NRUA was annulled.
• Guaranteed income.