Two completely different kinds of letting
| Short-term — tourist letting | Long-term — residential letting | |
|---|---|---|
| Who lives there | Tourists, days to weeks | A tenant who lives there, months to years |
| Rules | Andalusian tourism legislation — registration required | The Spanish tenancy act (LAU) — the tenant has strong protection |
| Your access to the property | You control the calendar | Limited for the whole term |
| Work | Cleaning, keys, guests, platforms — ongoing | Little ongoing, but more if it goes wrong |
| Can the community stop it | Yes, through the statutes | Rarely |
In between lies the seasonal contract, alquiler de temporada: letting for a specific, temporary purpose such as winter residence, a fixed-term job or studies. It does not fall under the tourist rules, but it is only a seasonal contract if the need genuinely is temporary. If you call an ordinary tenancy “temporada” to get round the tenancy act, the tenancy act applies anyway.
Tourist letting requires registration with the Junta de Andalucía
Letting to tourists in Andalusia is a regulated activity. The property must be registered in the regional tourism register before the first guest arrives, and the registration number must appear in every advertisement. The platforms require it, and the town hall and the region check.
To be registered the property must meet a series of requirements on the accommodation itself. Without going into details that change, it concerns things such as:
- that the property has a valid licence to be used as a dwelling (licencia de primera ocupación or equivalent),
- cooling and heating in the rooms, depending on the season,
- furnishing, equipment and first aid according to the regulations,
- information for guests, complaint forms and registration of guests with the police,
- that the town hall has not restricted tourist letting in that particular area or building.
The rules have been tightened several times in recent years, both in Andalusia and nationally, and several municipalities on the coast have introduced their own restrictions. What applied when you read an article two years ago does not necessarily apply now. Check the current requirements for the specific property and municipality before you count on getting a licence.
The community can say no — and that applies to you too
This is where it most often goes wrong. A community of owners (comunidad de propietarios) can prohibit or restrict tourist letting in its statutes, and the law allows it to do so by a qualified-majority vote at the general meeting. Such a decision, registered at the land registry, binds all owners, including whoever buys afterwards. That you did not know makes no difference.
If the plan is to let to tourists, do three things before you make an offer:
- Read the statutes (estatutos) and check at the registry whether a ban has been registered.
- Read the minutes of the last few general meetings. A ban that is on its way shows up there long before it is decided.
- Ask the community’s administrator (administrador) outright whether tourist letting is allowed and whether there are special fees or rules for it.
This is part of the checks we and your lawyer carry out before arras — see the buying process. But it presupposes that we know letting is part of the plan. Say so from the start.
Long-term letting: simpler permission, stronger tenant
Letting to someone who lives in the property requires no tourist registration, and the community can rarely stop it. In return the tenant has strong protection under Spanish tenancy law. An ordinary residential tenancy gives the tenant the right to stay for several years regardless of what the contract says about the term, and it is hard to recover the property for your own use early. The deposit must also be lodged with the region, not kept by you.
It is a good option if you do not intend to use the property yourself for several years and want as little ongoing work as possible. It is a poor option if you “just want something coming in until we move down”. Then it is the seasonal contract or no letting at all.
Tax: Modelo 210 in Spain, and a return at home
Rental income from a Spanish property is taxed in Spain, even if you live abroad. As a non-resident you declare it through Modelo 210 for the periods the property was let. If you live in the EU/EEA you can normally deduct costs connected to the letting. The weeks the property stood empty are taxed as usual on a deemed income based on the rateable value — so letting does not remove that filing obligation, it adds one.
If you live abroad, the income normally has to be declared there too, with credit for the Spanish tax under the double taxation treaty. If you have instead moved to Spain, entirely different rules apply — see moving to Spain and the guide on tax residency.
We give no tax rates, fees or projected rental income here. They depend on where you live, how the property is used, which year it concerns and which costs you may deduct — and they change. The calculation is done per property, with current figures from the Agencia Tributaria and your gestoría.
The most common miscalculation: that the property will carry itself
There is one way of getting the budget wrong that is more common than all the others together: buying a more expensive property than you can really afford, because the rental income “covers the difference”. Sometimes it does. But it is not guaranteed, and what is not guaranteed should not carry a calculation.
What is usually missing from the sum:
- Empty weeks. Occupancy is high a few months a year and low the rest. Between seasons the property often stands empty.
- The costs of letting. Cleaning, laundry, key handling, management, the platform’s fee, wear, repairs and the insurance that actually covers letting.
- That you want to be there yourself — precisely in the weeks that are easiest to let.
- That the rules change. A municipality can restrict, a community can ban, a register can set new requirements. An income that rests on a licence is an income that can disappear.
- Tax — in two countries.
The advice is simple: calculate as if the property produced not a euro of rent. If the numbers hold then — with all the costs on top of the price and the running costs — every let week is a bonus. If they do not hold, it is the wrong property or the wrong price, whatever the seller’s calculation says.
Tell us what the plan is and we build it into the search from the start. Send a search brief or get in touch.