Everything You Need to Know About Getting a Tourist License in Spain

The importance of getting a tourist license

It might seem like a lot of unnecessary hard work, but it's essential that you get a tourist license or you'll be on the wrong side of the Spanish law.

If you rent a tourist property without a license then the consequence is an eye-wateringly expensive fine. Like most things in Spain, these vary from region to region. But to give you some examples, the fine for letting a tourist property without a license is €600,000 in Catalonia and €400,000 in the Balearic Islands.

A valid tourist license also builds trust with guests. You're more likely to build relationships with travellers, secure repeat visitors, and earn a decent rate for letting your property with the right license.

Is your property able to secure a tourist license?

Before you can apply for a tourist license, your property must be compliant with the regulations laid out to ensure that each registered property meets established quality and safety standards. These rules state that the property should be safe above all, and has all the right equipment in place.

Like so many things in Spain, these requirements vary from region to region, and each autonomous region has its own guidelines. But some of the most common requirements to secure a tourist license include an adequate number of working fire alarms, smoke detectors and fire extinguishers; ventilation, heating and cooling facilities in all properties; a good standard of hygiene facilities, including kitchen and bathroom sanitation; and, in some regions, meeting accessibility standards.

New regulations for tourist licenses

From 1st July 2025 new regulations were introduced surrounding tourist licenses in Spain. This is a huge change for the country. These new regulations are being introduced to both control the short-term rental market and protect the long-term rental market.

The first change to know is that any short-term holiday rental now needs to be registered in a national Spanish database. This system will clearly show which properties are legally compliant as well as make tax collection more efficient.

So how do you get onto that register? That brings us to the second change. Instead of applying for a tourism license through your local town hall, you can now apply via a centralised online system, called the Unified Digital Portal (Ventanilla Única Digital). You register for this system in order to submit your license application and upload all supporting documents, monitor the progress of your application, and receive real time updates from the central administrators about any legal changes that will impact your property.

Tourist licenses for holiday apartments

If you own an apartment in Spain then there is another big change that you need to be aware of. The Spanish government has voted in a new reform called the Horizontal Property Law (LPH) Reform, Law 46/1960, which will specifically impact apartment owners.

Under this new regulation, if you wish to turn a property in an apartment complex into a holiday let, those living in your building community, meaning the Home Owner Association, now have the right to restrict or ban tourist rental applications.

To apply for a tourist license in a shared apartment building you will now need a majority of owners, 60%, to agree to your license application, and you will need to adhere to home owner association regulations regarding holiday lets if they do agree. This could mean limits on usage of the property, the facilities, or the implementation of quiet hours in the building.

This is a very worrying development for second homeowners with holiday apartments, but there is some good news: these changes can't be applied retroactively, which means if you applied for and secured a tourist license before 3rd April 2025 then your rights to have that license remain.

However it's important to note that because of the control of autonomous regions, although this has been put in place centrally, each region can choose to remove tourist licenses or control the implementation of these schemes in their own way.

There is still space in the Spanish market for holiday lets: you just need to think about securing the right licenses for your new property.

Are you in the process of moving to Spain or looking to make the right move to Spain for you? If you're looking for estate agents in Southern Spain then why not get in touch? Our locally based property experts are a font of local knowledge, and are perfectly placed to help you find the home of your dreams.