Can I let my Costa del Sol home to holidaymakers?
If you plan to let your Costa del Sol home to holidaymakers, the rules will shape which property you can buy, and they differ more from town to town here than almost anywhere else in Spain. Andalusia lets town halls limit holiday lets by building, area or period, and since 2025 it lets them suspend new ones altogether while they rewrite their plans. Málaga city has done exactly that.
What counts as a holiday let
Andalusian law calls it a vivienda de uso turístico (VUT): a home let for a price, regularly and for tourist purposes, through channels aimed at tourists such as holiday platforms. A home advertised on those channels is presumed to be let for tourism. Lets of more than two months in a row to the same person fall outside the tourism rules and under Spain's general tenancy law. One owner running three or more homes as a single business in the same building, or in the same development with shared facilities, is treated as a tourist apartment business, with stricter rules.
What you need
| Requirement | What it means |
|---|---|
| Registration in the Andalusian Tourism Register (RTA) | A responsible declaration filed with the Junta de Andalucía, which gives you a registration number. Without it the home cannot be advertised or let |
| A town that allows it at that address | The town's planning rules must allow tourist use there, and any licence the town requires must be in place before you register |
| The building's approval, for a flat | Since 3 April 2025, a new tourist let in a building under shared ownership needs the prior approval of three-fifths of the owners. Communities can also vote to forbid it |
| A home fit to live in | An occupation licence or declaration, and the Andalusian standards, which include air conditioning if you let in summer, heating if you let in winter, a first-aid kit and a 24-hour phone number, and limit the number of guests |
A registration is tied to the home and to the person who runs the let. If you buy a registered home, ask your lawyer how the registration will pass to you, and check in the RTA that it is still active: the Junta has removed many homes from the register for incomplete files or breaches.
Town by town
| Town | Position in October 2026 |
|---|---|
| Málaga city | No new holiday lets anywhere in the city from August 2025, for up to three years. Since July 2026, no new hotels or tourist apartments on residential land either |
| Manilva | New holiday lets banned in the busiest areas and restricted elsewhere |
| Fuengirola | Restrictions on holiday lets in flats without their own street entrance |
| Marbella | New holiday lets still accepted, subject to planning and the community's own rules |
| Other towns | No general suspension confirmed at the time of writing; check the address with the town hall |
Málaga's path shows where the coast is heading. It first required new holiday lets to have their own entrance and services, which ruled out most flats in shared buildings; then it closed the 43 neighbourhoods where holiday lets already made up more than 8% of homes, a measure the Andalusian High Court upheld in 2026; and finally it suspended new registrations everywhere. Existing registrations remain valid, which is why a registered flat in Málaga now costs more than an unregistered one next door.
A new Andalusian tourism law, the Ley del Turismo Sostenible, lapsed when the regional parliament was dissolved for the May 2026 election. If it returns as drafted, it would bring more inspections, fines of up to €600,000 and the power for towns to cap tourist places by area. Under the current law, letting without registration carries fines of €2,001 to €18,000, and up to €150,000 for the most serious breaches.
Your registration number and your guests
Every advert must show the Andalusian registration number. The national registration number (NRUA) that platforms required from July 2025 was struck down by the Supreme Court in May 2026, so in Andalusia the RTA number is the one that counts. Every guest must be recorded in the national police system, SES Hospedajes. There is no tourist tax in Andalusia, although Málaga city has asked the Junta to allow one, so check before you set prices for a new season.
Tax on the rent
Rent is taxed in Spain on form 210: 19% on the net rent if you live in the EU or EEA, 24% on the gross rent if you live elsewhere, including the UK and US. It is declared once a year, between 1 and 20 April of the following year, although in the 2026 transition year income from January to September 2026 keeps the old quarterly deadlines if you declare each letting separately. Until 30 November 2026, holiday lets without hotel-type services are not subject to VAT. From 1 December 2026, under a housing decree in force since 8 October, a furnished home let to the same guest for 30 nights or fewer carries 10% VAT, so you would have to register for Spanish VAT and charge it on each stay; the decree lapses unless parliament's standing committee confirms it by early November 2026.
If the home cannot be registered
You can still let it for longer stays: seasonal lets with a written contract and a real reason for the temporary stay, such as work or study, or a long-term let. Under the October 2026 housing decree, if it is confirmed, a seasonal let needs a real, provable reason for the stay, must last more than 31 days and, as a rule, no more than 12 months, and more than two consecutive contracts with the same tenant turn it into an ordinary long-term let. The Junta and town halls have said they will act against abuse, so check the rules before you rely on this route.
More detail in the book. Chapter 9 of Buying a Home on the Costa del Sol as a Non-Resident cover this with worked examples, deadlines and the risks behind the figures.
General information based on the rules in force in October 2026, not legal or tax advice. Rules change often: check your own case with an independent Spanish lawyer or tax adviser before you act.
Related: Selling a Costa del Sol home as a non-resident · Inheritance tax on a Costa del Sol home when you live abroad