Register of Vacation rental in Spain, what you need to know

What is understood as a license for tourist housing in Spain?

It is quite easy at first but it gets complicated. A tourist license is used to rent a property for tourists. That is the easy part. But, from that point you have to understand what kind of tourist or “hotel” licenses are in Spain.

It depends on the Autonomous community but we can sum everything up in the following licenses:

• Tourist houses. This is the most standard. The Airbnb house. A normal house rented for tourist and nothing else. We will see the requirements further down this article.
• Rural houses. This is the same thing as the tourist house but it is in the countryside. Usually this is needs a more complicated license that the standard Airbnb. Basically they look for a minimum quality.
• Traditional tourist businesses. Bed and Breakfast, hostels, campings, hotels… there are a few more but those licenses are more of a standard businesses.

Ok, I get that but, what do I need to rent my house? Lets go!

What do I need to register my house as a tourist house?

As an initial step, you will need a tourist license. This is a simple task but it gets complicated sometimes. Lets see the requirements:

• Quality or technical requirements. These are quite standard and logical. You will need a fire extinguisher, a washing machine, a full kitchen, a bedroom and living room with natural light, etc. We usually go through these requirements.
• Civil liability insurance. This is a standard insurance to protect you and the guests for any kind of problem that may happen. In the Region of Murcia, a 300.000€ coverage insurance is required.
• Compatibility with the urban regulations. Here is where this gets tricky. In some communities they request a certificate that guarantees this. For instance in the Comunidad Valenciana. This is granted by the local town hall and, obviously, it can be denied. So watch out!

These are the most important requirements, and we at Leukos Architecture always go though them before submitting for any license.

What steps I have to follow to get my tourist license?

This depends very much on the autonomous community, but we will try to simplify it for you:

1. Getting the urban compatibility certificate (if required). If it is required the first step is to get this certificate from the town hall. The soon you ask for it, the better!
2. Submitting the license with all the documentation. Depending on the community you will need to wait for the granting or not. For instance, in Murcia you can rent it in one week since the submission, in Valencia you have to wait several months.
3. Get ready for an inspection. It is very common that you will get an inspection so do not try to outsmart them! Do not do things like putting more beds that you have or not following the regulations. You could get fined.

Authorization of community of owners for a tourist house or vacation rental

Formally you do not need an authorization from the community of owners to get a vacation rental license. This is the standard. Nobody is going to ask you for a paper or approval from your community.

Having said that, it is getting common for communities to forbid these houses. This can not be done retroactively. If you have your license, they can not ban you to rent your property.

If you do not have the license, the prohibition needs to be on the community´s statutes. And it needs to specifically ban the rental vacation, not any kind of businesses, for instance.

This specification is strange. Basically because it costs a lot of money. Changing the statutes is not easy nor cheap.

Conclusion

Above all, getting a rental or tourist license is quite easy in Spain. You need to go through some bureaucracy but right now is possible in most cases.

If you want your license, write to us in our contact forms and we will give you an accurate quote without any commitment.