Holiday lets, “alquileres turísticos”, are designated as being houses or flats, not hotels, that are offered for rent for short periods and that are not going to be the habitual residence of the tenant.

Holiday letting is an activity, which falls under the control of many regulatory bodies including Spanish National Law, Laws of the Comunidades Autónomas, and local council regulations.

National Law, mainly regulates the conditions for letting within a block of flats with shared ownership, which in Spain is called ” Propiedad Horizontal”.

If the property is a flat within a building shared with other owners, ” Propiedad Horizontal”, any tourist related activity in the flat, such as holiday rentals, can be limited by the joint owners.

A majority vote of 3/5 of the total number of owners that represent at least 3/5 of the total percentage of quotas in the shared ownership can limit or impose certain conditions on the activity of holiday rentals in the flat. The same majority can establish a different share in the common costs for the flat where this activity is carried out or impose an increase in the current community fees of up to no more than 20%.

The Comunidades Autónomas have the greatest control over holiday lettings.

All of them have rules which require the need for registration of the activity carried out in each individual property and by so to be available for inspectors to check for compliance with tourism regulations.
Once registration has been applied for, the activity can be immediately started.

Within our area, there are regulations in Asturias and Cantabria and Basque Country

Regarding the local councils, planning permission to build or refurbish the property as well as to start letting must be sought and obtained. Every council will ask for that at least. Some of them have special rules, many of which are not published, so it is necessary from the very beginning to check and liaise with the local council to ensure you are complying with the regulations.


You can expect the council to ask for the title deed of the property, the status of the property in the Cadastral register, the insurance policy and a plan of the house or flat to prove that it is suitable for the activity under the regulations of the relevant Comunidad Autónoma

From these, we can extract the rules in Asturias for Ribadesella, Llanes, Cabrales, Colunga, Villaviciosa, Piloña, Parres the rules in Cantabria for San Vicente de la Barquera and in the Basque Country for Bilbao and San Sebastián

It is worth knowing about Holiday Lettings Taxes