The Urban Plan for Bilbao was modified on 25 January 2018 in order to further regulate the use of houses and apartments for holiday lettings.
Only one person may be responsible for running the business and before starting business must be entered in the Tourist Business and Tourist Activities Register of the Basque Country. It is forbidden to use tourist accommodation as a permanent residence.
When operating holiday lettings by the room the maximum number of rooms permitted to be available to rent is 3, excluding the rooms occupied by the owner or other permanent residents. If more rooms are available, hotel regulations rather than residential will be applied to the premises.
Tourist apartments, in buildings where access is shared with residential apartments, are only permitted on one floor, being the lowest designated as for residential use – i.e. the first floor if above a commercial ground floor.
There is a separate organisation, Surbisa Bilbao, dedicated to urban regeneration and the renovation of the “casco viejo”, the old town, which imposes its own conditions on holiday lets within this area.