Tourist Licence Spain: Rules by Region, Costs & Fines

Tourist-home registration and advertising rules differ by comunidad autonoma. In Andalucia, advertising can begin once the declaracion responsable is filed, while inscription and issue of the registration code follow. Other regions use different stages and conditions. This guide compares the rules in Andalucia, the Balearic Islands, Catalonia and the Comunidad Valenciana, states what a community of owners can still block regardless of the regional rules, and closes with a route to a property-specific eligibility check.

What is a tourist licence in Spain?

A tourist-home process can involve a declaration or prior communication, inscription in a regional register and display of a registration code. The order and the point at which advertising can begin differ by region. This guide covers rules in Andalucia, the Balearic Islands, Catalonia and the Comunidad Valenciana.

The registration goes by a different name in each region. Andalucia calls it a vivienda con fines turisticos, a dwelling let for tourism purposes, under Decreto 28/2016. The Comunidad Valenciana calls its own version a vivienda de uso turistico, and the region’s 2024 decree defines it precisely: a whole dwelling let for ten days or less, continuously, to the same tenant, with letting by room expressly prohibited.

This requirement sits apart from an ordinary long-term tenancy. The Comunidad Valenciana’s own definition draws the line at ten days; a standard annual rental contract falls outside it, and outside the Comunidad Valenciana’s registration requirement. Check the applicable duration test separately for another region.

Why do the rules depend on which region you’re in?

Spain’s Constitution gives the comunidades autonomas the power to regulate tourism themselves, so no single national tourist-licence law exists.

Article 148.1.18ª of the Constitution lists “promotion and organisation of tourism within its territorial scope” among the matters a comunidad autonoma may take on, according to the BOE. Andalucia, the Balearic Islands, Catalonia and the Comunidad Valenciana run regional schemes, and the name changes from region to region: Andalucia’s vivienda con fines turisticos and the Comunidad Valenciana’s vivienda de uso turistico, covered in the next four sections, are two examples.

Several regions add rules at municipal level on top of their own regional scheme. In Catalonia, Decret Llei 3/2023 requires a prior urban-planning licence for tourist-home activity in the municipalities listed in its annex. The listed municipality and the rules for the specific building must be checked before relying on the regional registration route.

What are the rules in Andalucia?

Andalucia registers tourist accommodation through a declaracion responsable, a signed statement of compliance filed with the region’s tourism department. The dwelling can be advertised as soon as that statement is filed, under Decreto 28/2016, article 9.1.

The dwelling is then inscribed automatically in the Registro de Turismo de Andalucia, and the town hall and the housing department are notified. The registration code must appear in every advertisement of the property once it is issued, under the same decree’s article 9.3 and 9.4.

Andalucia classifies letting without filing the declaracion responsable as clandestine activity, a grave infringement under Ley 13/2011, article 71.1. The fine bands that infringement carries are covered further down this page.

What are the rules in the Balearic Islands?

The Balearic Islands run their own tourist-letting scheme through the Govern de les Illes Balears, under Llei 8/2012, as modified by Llei 6/2017. For a Balearic property, check the current registration route, availability and zoning with the regional tourism authority before advertising.

What are the rules in Catalonia?

Catalonia’s tourist-home framework includes prior communication under Decret 75/2020. In municipalities listed in the annex to Decret Llei 3/2023, tourist-home activity also requires a prior urban-planning licence. Barcelona appears in that annex. Check the current municipal and building position before starting the activity.

What are the rules in the Comunidad Valenciana?

The Comunidad Valenciana registers tourist accommodation through a declaracion responsable under Decreto-ley 9/2024, the region’s amended tourism law.

The declaracion responsable must confirm the operator holds a first- or second-occupation licence, or its Decreto 12/2021 equivalent, plus a favourable municipal report on the property’s compatibility with tourist use. The property’s registration number and exact location must appear in every advertisement once the Registro de Turismo de la Comunitat Valenciana processes the filing. The Registro passed 100,000 registered dwellings in July 2024, a 160.40% increase over 2015-2023, and more than 9,000 further dwellings registered during 2024 alone, according to the decree’s own preamble.

Comparing the four regions this guide sources shows how differently each one runs the same basic idea.

None of these four positions should be assumed to hold for a region this guide does not name. Check the relevant regional tourism authority directly for anywhere else in Spain.

Check whether your property can get a tourist licence

A region’s rules only start the answer to whether a specific property can get a tourist licence. Building type, the property’s occupation-licence status, and the building’s own community bylaws all factor in as well, on top of whichever regional scheme applies.

The next section covers the one factor that can override a licence even where the region allows it: a community of owners voting to restrict or ban holiday letting inside its own building. Region, property and building set the real answer together, and a general guide can only take you so far.

Can your community of owners block a holiday let?

Yes. A community of owners can vote to approve, limit, condition or prohibit holiday letting inside its own building, and that vote applies whatever the regional tourist-licence rules allow, under Ley de Propiedad Horizontal, article 17.12.

The vote needs a three-fifths majority of both the owners and the participation quotas they represent, and it has no retroactive effect on a letting that already started. A related provision, article 7.3, added at the same time, goes further for an owner who wants to start letting: it requires the community’s prior express approval before the activity begins, and it gives the community president the right to demand an immediate stop where that approval was never obtained.

A licence from the region is not enough on its own.

How do you apply for a tourist licence?

You apply for a tourist licence by filing a declaracion responsable, or your region’s equivalent registration statement, with the regional tourism authority, then displaying the registration number you receive on every listing.

The shared shape below is drawn from Andalucia and the Comunidad Valenciana, the two regions this guide sources in full. The exact form, portal and paperwork differ elsewhere in Spain, so confirm the current version with the relevant regional authority before you file.

1. Confirm the property meets the region’s requirements. Andalucia and the Comunidad Valenciana both key registration to an existing occupation licence: Andalucia’s declaracion responsable must state the dwelling’s capacity against its licencia de ocupacion, and the Comunidad Valenciana’s requires confirmation of a first- or second-occupation licence and a favourable municipal urban-compatibility report.
2. File the declaracion responsable with the regional tourism authority. In Andalucia this goes to the Consejeria responsible for tourism; in the Comunidad Valenciana it goes to the Registro de Turismo de la Comunitat Valenciana.
3. Receive your registration number. Andalucia inscribes the property in the Registro de Turismo de Andalucia automatically once the declaracion responsable is filed. The Comunidad Valenciana issues the number once its filing is processed.
4. Display the registration number on every advertisement. Both regions require the code, and in the Comunidad Valenciana the exact location too, on every piece of advertising for the property, under each region’s own decree.

This four-step shape is sourced for Andalucia and the Comunidad Valenciana only. This guide does not source a registration process for Catalonia, the Balearic Islands or the other 13 comunidades.

What documents do you need?

The exact documents differ by region, but Andalucia and the Comunidad Valenciana, the two regions this guide sources in full, both call for proof of the right to let the property, proof of an occupation licence, and, where a community of owners has restricted holiday letting, its approval.

• Proof you can let the property. The Comunidad Valenciana’s declaracion responsable requires evidence such as the title deed, a lease that permits subletting, or a management authorisation between the owner and an operating company, where the applicant is not the owner.
• Proof of an occupation licence. Andalucia’s declaracion responsable must state the dwelling’s capacity against its licencia de ocupacion; the Comunidad Valenciana requires confirmation of a first- or second-occupation licence, or its Decreto 12/2021 equivalent, plus a favourable municipal urban-compatibility report.
• Identification of the operator. Andalucia’s declaracion responsable must identify the operator and their title to operate the property, where that is someone other than the owner.
• Community-of-owners approval, if it applies. Where a community has restricted or banned holiday letting under its own bylaws, an owner needs its prior express approval before the activity can start, under Ley de Propiedad Horizontal article 7.3, covered above.

Do not apply either region’s occupation-licence or insurance requirements as a Spain-wide rule. Check the requirements for the region where the property sits.

What happens if you let a property without a licence?

Andalucia and the Comunidad Valenciana both classify letting without the required registration as an infringement, and only Andalucia’s fine bands are sourced here.

Andalucia classifies unlicensed letting as clandestine activity, a grave infringement under Ley 13/2011, article 71.1, which under article 78 carries a fine of €2,001 to €18,000, alongside a possible accessory suspension or closure of under six months. A leve infringement in Andalucia carries a fine of up to €2,000, and a muy grave infringement carries €18,001 to €150,000.

The Comunidad Valenciana classifies a failure to register or advertise correctly as an infraccion grave under its amended tourism law. Penalty amounts vary by region. The Andalucia figures above must not be applied to the Comunidad Valenciana, Catalonia or the Balearic Islands.

How is income from a licensed holiday let taxed?

Rental income from Spanish property is Spain-sourced income under RDLeg 5/2004, article 13.1.g. The rates and deductions in the next paragraph apply to a non-resident without a permanent establishment in Spain.

The rate splits by residence. A non-resident outside the EU and EEA is taxed on the gross rent under article 24.1, with no expense deduction, at the 24% rate set by article 25.1.a. A resident of another EU member state, or an EEA state with effective tax-information exchange, can deduct expenses directly linked to the Spanish income under article 24.6, and pays the 19% rate the same article 25.1.a sets for that case.

This is the general principle only. The filing itself, Modelo 210 and its deadlines, belongs to non-resident tax in Spain, which this page does not duplicate. Rental-income tax planning more broadly sits with Spanish accountants, the secondary route for this side of the guide.

Is a holiday let a good investment in Spain?

Returns on a Spanish holiday let depend on licence availability, purchase price, running costs and occupancy. Model the return with the property’s own figures.

Licence availability in the target area comes first. A regional or municipal restriction is a property-specific commercial risk, not a legal conclusion about the property’s value. Purchase price and running costs, including whichever tax band from the section above applies to the rental income, set the cost side of the calculation. Occupancy, how many nights a year the property actually lets, sets the revenue side.

Investing in Spain covers the wider investment picture beyond holiday-let economics specifically.

What does it cost to get help with a tourist licence application?

The scope depends on the region, the property’s paperwork and whether remedial work is needed before the application can be filed. Request a consultation with those details before deciding how to proceed.

Talk to a lawyer about your tourist licence

The Spanish property solicitor handling your case can apply for the licence for the region and property you actually have.