Holiday rental licence in the Comunitat Valenciana (2026 rules)

Short-term tourist letting in the region is governed by three layers of rules. Ley 15/2018 on tourism, leisure and hospitality defines what a tourist home is and creates the Tourism Register of the Comunitat Valenciana. Decreto 10/2021 develops the details: minimum equipment, obligations of owners and management companies, and classification. On top of that, Decreto-ley 9/2024 of 2 August 2024, in force since 8 August 2024 and validated by the regional parliament in September 2024, rewrote a large part of the regime.

The main changes introduced by the 2024 decree are:

• a municipal urban-planning compatibility report (informe de compatibilidad urbanística, ICU) is required before registration;
• each home must be registered with its own individual cadastral reference; homes already operating had to supply it by 31 December 2024 or be removed from the register;
• registration is now valid for five years and must be renewed; homes registered before the decree have until August 2029;
• owners must declare the operating period of the home;
• only the whole dwelling can be let as a tourist home, no longer individual rooms;
• a stay in a tourist home is capped at 10 consecutive days for the same guest; longer stays fall under other letting rules;
• town halls gained powers to limit the number and location of tourist homes, and fines were increased.

Existing homes also have a transitional period of five years to adapt to the new quality and design requirements set out in the decree's annex.

The biggest practical change for buyers of apartments and townhouses on urbanisations came from Madrid, not Valencia. Ley Orgánica 1/2025 reformed article 17.12 of the Horizontal Property Law. Since 3 April 2025, an owner in a building or complex under horizontal property cannot start a tourist letting activity without the express prior approval of the community. The agreement needs a qualified majority of three-fifths of the owners who, in turn, represent three-fifths of the participation quotas. The same majority can also restrict or condition the activity.

Homes that were already legally operating as registered tourist homes before 3 April 2025 are not affected retroactively and can continue under the previous conditions. That is why, when you buy a resale property on an urbanisation in Orihuela Costa or Torrevieja, the exact date and status of an existing registration matter a great deal. The Valencian registration procedure now asks for the community authorisation to be provided with the declaration where it is required.

1. Check the town planning. Ask the relevant town hall (Torrevieja, or Orihuela for the whole Orihuela Costa strip) for the ICU. If the zoning or a municipal limit does not allow tourist use, the process stops here.
2. Obtain community approval if the home is in a complex with a community of owners and was not already registered before 3 April 2025. Get the minutes of the meeting, not a verbal assurance from the president.
3. Prepare the property. Liability insurance, house rules for guests, the equipment and quality standards required by the regulations, and the basic documents such as the cadastral reference and proof that you can dispose of the property.
4. File the responsible declaration (declaración responsable) with the Generalitat, usually online. The home receives a registration number in the VT format that must appear in every advert.
5. Register guests through the Interior Ministry's SES Hospedajes system, as required by Real Decreto 933/2021.
6. Diary the renewal five years after registration and keep your operating-period declaration up to date.

Most owners who do not live here delegate this to a lawyer or a licensed management company. Budget time: the ICU alone can take weeks depending on the town hall's workload.

From 1 July 2025, Real Decreto 1312/2024 required short-term rentals advertised on platforms such as Airbnb or Booking to show a national registration number (NRUA), obtained through the Land Registry and the Digital Single Window for Rentals. It did not replace the Valencian tourist registration; it was an additional layer.

On 21 May 2026, the Supreme Court, in judgment STS 620/2026 following an appeal by the Generalitat Valenciana, annulled the provisions that created the single rental registry, holding that the State lacked competence. The court upheld the parts on the Digital Single Window and the obligations of platforms to share data. In practice, your Valencian registration remains compulsory, and platforms still exchange data with the administration. Because the situation is still settling, check the current position with your adviser or manager before listing a property.

If you are not tax resident in Spain, rental income from your property is declared on Modelo 210 (non-resident income tax). The rate is 19% for residents of the EU and EEA, who may deduct expenses linked to the income, and 24% for everyone else, charged on gross income. Periods in which the home is not let may generate imputed income, also declared on Modelo 210. You will also have to consider IBI, community fees, the obligations of your manager and, in some cases, VAT if hotel-type services are provided. Residents are taxed through their Spanish income tax return instead. Tax rules change, so confirm your own case with a tax adviser before you calculate yields.

• Trusting the listing. A seller saying a flat is ideal for holiday rentals means nothing. Ask for the VT number and check it in the public register.
• Assuming a licence travels with the property. A change of owner must be notified to the register, and the home must still meet the current requirements and pass the renewal.
• Ignoring the community statutes. Even before 2025, some statutes prohibited commercial activities. Your lawyer should read them and the minutes of recent meetings.
• Forgetting the purge. The Generalitat has been cleaning up the register and has removed thousands of homes with missing essential data; ICU checks have been under way since early 2026. A number that existed two years ago may no longer be active.
• Counting on a residence route. Spain's golden visa for property investors was abolished on 3 April 2025, so a holiday-let purchase no longer leads to residence by itself.

If holiday letting is part of your plan, write it into the offer. The reservation and the arras contract can make completion conditional on a valid registration or a positive ICU, or at least on specific documents being delivered. Your lawyer should verify the VT number, the date of registration, the individual cadastral reference, the community minutes and any municipal restrictions. We can help you filter homes on our properties for sale by what is realistically lettable, and compare areas such as La Zenia, Playa Flamenca or La Mata. If you would rather rent long term instead, the licence regime does not apply and the Urban Leases Act governs the contract. Contact us with the address of a property you are considering and we will tell you what to check first.