The rental of holiday homes is a booming sector in Spain. In order to legally rent a property or rooms, you need to have a tourist license . Authorities in Spain closely monitor these tourist accommodations and how they operate.
Vacation rental licenses allow you to rent a property to guests for short periods or vacations, acting as a safe passage to avoid legal problems or fines. Authorities use control mechanisms, such as model 238 or random inspections for those owners who try to avoid controls.
Starting in 2025, all tourist accommodation in Spain must be registered in the new National Single Registry of Tourist Accommodations (RUVIU), managed by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda (MIVAU). This registry complements regional licenses and is mandatory for legally listing the property on vacation rental platforms. Failure to comply may result in fines and immediate suspension of the listing on digital portals.
Obtaining a vacation rental license is not an easy process and many owners who want to obtain a rental income from their property have numerous questions about the process they must follow to obtain a tourist license .
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A vacation rental license , also known as a tourist license , is a permit issued by the public administration that authorizes the owner to rent a property for tourist or vacation purposes. The regulation of these licenses in Spain falls on the autonomous communities , however, in cities with greater tourist influx even the town councils have the power.
The process to obtain a vacation rental license is not complex, but it can be tedious. These are the documents you must provide to request your tourist license:
Currently, it is essential to have third-party liability insurance, as many autonomous communities require this policy to grant a license and guarantee the protection of both the owner and guests. Likewise, the presentation of an energy efficiency certificate has become a common requirement to comply with European sustainability regulations.
Subsequently, you will need the registration receipt in the tourism registry and a responsible declaration of start of activity .
The process to obtain a vacation rental license varies depending on the autonomous community or city council in which it is requested, although in general, a set of common processes is followed in the majority of Autonomous Communities or localities.
It must be taken into account that in some locations it is not allowed to temporarily home for tourist use (VUT)
In order to obtain a vacation rental license , you must first notify your local council of your intention to obtain income from your property. This notification must be made through a responsible declaration , which must include:
The responsible declaration must be presented to the town hall of the town where the home is located. In addition to the responsible declaration, the following documents must be attached:
Once the required documents , your local council will contact the autonomous tourism registry to study the case and subsequently grant the registration number . This process can usually take between 2 weeks and 3 months .
Once the required documents are present, your local council will contact the autonomous tourism registry to study the case and subsequently grant the registration number. This process can usually take between 2 weeks and 3 months.
Once you have the registration number and depending on the Autonomous Community which may limit its use, you can begin to receive guests in your vacation home, although temporarily. Do not forget that you must register travelers compulsorily according to Royal Decree 933/2021
Use the Check-in Scan platform to make the guest record
To find out the requirements in more detail, we recommend that you go to the town hall of the town where the home is located.
The second step consists of informing the tax agency of obtaining the vacation rental license, since as it is a commercial activity, it is important that the income obtained from it be declared. Presenting the responsible declaration of commencement of activity is mandatory, although you are not required to pay the tax on economic activities (IAE), which you will only have to pay if the holiday home €1,000,000/year
The category in which the economic activity must be registered will depend on whether or not lodging services considered typical of the hotel industry are provided. If yes, you will be registered in “Extra-hotel tourist accommodation” in group 685 of the IAE . If not, the accommodation must be registered in section 861.1 “Rental of housing” .
Normally, “non-hotel tourist accommodations” must register their activities with 10% VAT per reservation for each guest, however, non-hotel services of which the businesses registered in section 861.1 “Rental of homes” , such as apartments, AIRBNB, instead of paying VAT, must pay the corresponding income tax and ITP (property transfer tax)
Consult the process of obtaining the license on the official websites of each autonomous community:
It is important to consider that taxation of holiday rentals may entail the obligation to file periodic VAT returns and the inclusion of these incomes in the annual personal income tax return under income from real estate capital or economic activity, depending on the nature of the services offered and the turnover volume.
Obtaining economic yields of a holiday home without its corresponding license is completely prohibited and illegal . We could expose ourselves to the following sanctions:
Due to the implementation of model 238 , each tourist home advertised on vacation rental platforms is exposed to a potential inspection and possible audit by the public administration.
