Spain's national short-term rental register is annulled: what it means if you buy a flat to let

What there was before the ruling

From 1 July 2025 Spain had a single national register of short-term rentals. To list a flat on Airbnb, Booking and other platforms, the owner obtained a separate national number through the Land Registry and put it in the listing. The register covered not only holiday lets of a few days but also seasonal lets of several months. For an owner on the Costa Blanca it was a second registration on top of the regional one: they already had a number in the Valencian Community tourism register.

What the Supreme Court decided

The appeal was brought by the Valencian regional government. On 19 May 2026 the Supreme Court partly upheld it: the State may not create its own register on top of the regional ones, so all the rules on the single register and the national number are annulled. The ruling was published in the official gazette BOE on 8 June 2026. Two more rulings of the same court, of 21 May and 1 June, reached the same conclusion.

The rest of the appeal was dismissed. The digital «single window» stays: booking platforms still pass data on listings and transactions to the State, including for statistics. Letting illegally has not become any easier; there is simply one permit now, the regional one.

What you need in the Valencian Community

Alicante and the whole Costa Blanca belong to the Valencian Community, which has its own rules, updated in August 2024.

What counts as a holiday let. Letting to the same tenant for no more than 10 days in a row. Anything longer is a different kind of rental with its own rules.

Registration. The flat is entered in the Valencian Community tourism register and gets a VT number. For that you need a certificate from the town hall that holiday lets in that zone and that building are allowed by the planning rules. Town halls may cap the number of holiday flats in a building, a block or a district.

Term. Registration lasts five years and is then renewed with a new town hall certificate.

Liability. Fines for breaches go up to 600,000 euros, and the owner is liable for an illegal listing unless they name the person actually letting the flat.

The neighbours: a decision the court did not touch

Since 3 April 2025 a flat may be let to tourists only with the express consent of the building's owners' association. It takes the vote of three fifths of all owners who together hold at least three fifths of the shares in the building. By the same majority the association may raise the service charge for holiday flats, but by no more than 20%. The association's decision is not retroactive.

The trap when buying a finished flat with a licence. In the Valencian Community the VT number is tied to the flat, not to the owner. But the exemption for those who were letting to tourists before 3 April 2025 belongs to the owner personally. In March 2026 the Directorate General for Legal Certainty and Public Faith (DGSJFP) looked at such a case in Santa Pola: a buyer who signed the deed on 7 April 2025 got a flat with a licence but cannot let it to tourists without the neighbours' consent. What counts is the date of the notarial deed, not of the private contract.

What to check before you reserve

If you are buying a flat to let to holidaymakers, I would check five things:

1. Whether the town hall allows holiday lets in that zone and that building, and whether there is a cap on the number of such flats.

2. What the development's bylaws say. In a new build the first bylaws are drawn up by the developer, and you can ask for the draft and read it before you buy.

3. How the owners' association feels about holiday lets and whether there has already been a vote.

4. If the flat is finished and has a VT number: the date of the previous owner's deed and whether the association has given consent. The number in the listing does not by itself guarantee that you will be able to let it.

5. How you will let it: for a few days to tourists or for the season. These are different rules and different contracts.

What it means for your purchase

The court removed a needless number and a needless registration, but it did not simplify the main things: the town hall permit, the regional registration and the neighbours' consent. So a flat «to let» is chosen not by the view from the balcony but by the documents of the building and the zone. In a new build you move in first, together with the other buyers, and the picture with the neighbours takes shape before your eyes. In a finished building it has already taken shape, and you need to read it in the minutes of the owners' meetings.

Projects designed for letting from the start are collected in the selection «Three options people buy to let»: for each one I write what is already in place and what still has to be confirmed.

I will help you find a flat where holiday letting is possible on paper, and your price will be the same as at the sales office: why you are better off with me than without me.

Author: Vitalii Kotenko, new-build agent on the Costa Blanca. This is a general overview of the rules, not legal advice on a specific flat.