Will you need a licence to rent out your Spanish holiday home?

Owning a holiday home in Spain is a dream come true for many

That’s the headline, and here’s the short answer: we don’t know. Not yet. There are murmurings in the British press, most notably The Telegraph, that the Spanish government is mulling over a clampdown on unlicensed holiday lets.

Now, with Spain being the disparate group of autonomous regions that we all know and love, there is no straight answer here. Certainly, in some regions it is a well-known fact that property owners – be they Spaniards, residents or British expats – who wish to let out their property on short-term rents need a licence: the Balearics, Canaries and Catalonia are particularly stringent on this point…

But there are huge grey areas elsewhere, including Andalucía. Generally, there is a decree from the Spanish General Tourism Act that states that all short-let properties must be registered as such at the local town hall. However, as with many aspects of the Spanish legal system, it is rarely and barely enforced.

Yet the Spanish government, perhaps on the hunt for additional tax revenue streams, is rumoured to be exploring avenues to clamp down on any unlicensed holiday homes. Effectively, central government may devolve this power to local government, which means some regions – such as Majorca, which has a powerful hotel lobby group that has battled long and hard against private short-term lets for obvious reasons – will become extremely stringent on this issue.

It is hard to say just how Andalucía might respond. On the one hand, the fact that the Costa del Sol is such a popular destination for both holiday home owners and holidaymakers means there is a potentially large and untapped revenue stream for them. On the other hand, issuing new laws and demanding new licences of people who are an important source of income all year round might not be in their best interests.

Richard Way, of the Overseas Guides Company, told The Telegraph that such a ruling could potentially spook Spain’s still-recovering property market. “The proposed change is devolution of the law governing holiday lets from Spain’s national to its regional governments, so fees and conditions will obviously vary,” he said.

”Some regions, notably the Balearics and Canaries, have had their own rules for holiday lets in place for years. Now, potentially all regions will need to control this market. The change will apply to anyone, foreign resident or non-resident or Spaniard, letting a property on a short-term holiday let.

“In many cases, tighter regulation is being driven by hotel owners and hotel companies, who obviously want to discourage tourists staying in private accommodation, and many of whom have powerful positions at town hall and regional government level.”

If the aim is to raise taxes, then one possible positive for property owners would be the opportunity for any reasonable costs to be claimed or offset by taxation.

Things are still uncertain, and if the rule change is passed then nobody yet knows quite how the Andalusian government would go about it. Nobody wants more red tape and bureaucracy, but even fewer want fines for non-compliance. We will be sure to keep an eye on any future developments, and will report them as soon as we know.

Until that time, you can read all about letting out your holiday home right here on our website.