If you are buying on the Costa Blanca, Costa Cálida, Costa del Sol or Costa Almería with a view to letting your home to holidaymakers, the single most important thing to check before you sign is whether the property can legally hold a tourist rental licence. In the Comunitat Valenciana (Costa Blanca and the Alicante side of the Costa Cálida) this licence is called the VUT — Vivienda de Uso Turístico. In Andalucía (Costa del Sol and Costa Almería) the equivalent is the VFT — Vivienda con Fines Turísticos. Without it, advertising a short-term let on Airbnb, Booking.com or any platform is illegal and exposes you to fines that can run into many thousands of euros.
The short answer for 2026: short-term letting is still very much possible across all four Mediter regions, but it is no longer automatic. Many town halls have frozen or capped new licences, communities of owners can now block short-term rentals by a qualified majority, and a new national rental register requires every property to carry a unique reference number before it can be advertised. This guide explains exactly what that means for buyers in each region, what to verify before purchase, and how the costs stack up.
A tourist rental licence authorises you to let a furnished home for short stays (typically under a couple of months) to tourists, on a repeated, commercial basis. Tourism in Spain is devolved to the autonomous communities, so the rules differ depending on which coast you buy on:
On top of the regional licence, since 2025 every short-term rental in Spain must also obtain a national single registry number (Número de Registro Único), introduced to bring Spain in line with EU short-term rental rules. From 2026 onward, platforms such as Airbnb and Booking.com are obliged to display this number and can de-list any listing without one. In practice you now need two things: the regional/municipal authorisation, and the national registry reference.
| Feature | Comunitat Valenciana (Costa Blanca) | Región de Murcia (Costa Cálida) | Andalucía (Costa del Sol & Almería) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Licence name | VUT | VV (Vivienda Vacacional) | VFT |
| Registering body | Generalitat Valenciana tourism register + town hall compatibilidad urbanística | ITREM (Murcia tourism institute) | Junta de Andalucía tourism register (RTA) |
| Town hall sign-off needed? | Yes — municipal urban-compatibility certificate is now mandatory | Yes — local urban planning compliance | Yes — increasingly required, varies by municipality |
| National registry number? | Yes (all regions, from 2025) | Yes | Yes |
| Community of owners can block? | Yes — 3/5 (60%) majority vote | Yes — 3/5 majority vote | Yes — 3/5 majority vote |
| Minimum standards | Air-con/heating, energy certificate, guest register, complaints sheet | Similar; cooling required in summer | Air-con in bedrooms/lounge (summer), heating (winter), first-aid kit, info pack |
The biggest legal shift affecting buyers in 2026 is the power given to communities of owners (the comunidad de propietarios in an apartment block or gated urbanisation). Following reforms to Spain's Horizontal Property Law, a community can now vote to prohibit or restrict short-term tourist letting with a three-fifths (60%) majority of owners and quotas.
This matters enormously for apartment buyers on the Costa del Sol and the dense beachfront blocks of the Costa Blanca, where many communities — frustrated by suitcase wheels at 3am and overflowing bins — are actively voting to ban holiday lets. Before you buy any flat intended for letting, ask for the community statutes and recent minutes (actas) to confirm short-term rental is permitted. A licence from the region is worthless if your own building has banned the activity. Detached villas with no community, or communities with rental-friendly statutes, are therefore increasingly sought-after by investors.
In the Comunitat Valenciana the VUT now requires a municipal certificado de compatibilidad urbanística confirming the property's location and use are compatible with tourist letting. Several popular Costa Blanca municipalities have introduced moratoriums or caps:
The practical takeaway: licensing is increasingly location-specific within a town. A property 200 metres inland may qualify where a beachfront block does not. We always recommend a property-specific check rather than relying on town-wide assumptions.
In Andalucía the VFT is registered with the Junta's tourism register (RTA), and the property must meet minimum equipment standards — air conditioning in bedrooms and lounge for the summer months, heating for winter, a first-aid kit, and a guest information pack. Crucially, Andalucía now also routes new registrations through municipal urban-compatibility checks, and high-pressure markets are reacting:
If a steady rental yield is central to your purchase, the lower-density Costa Almería and the southern Costa Blanca currently offer the most reliable licensing environment, while Málaga city is the most restricted.
The licence itself is comparatively cheap; the real numbers buyers should plan for are the purchase taxes and the running compliance costs. Remember that buying a resale home in Spain adds roughly 11–14% on top of the price in taxes and fees.
| Cost item | Costa Blanca / Costa Cálida (Alicante side) | Costa del Sol / Costa Almería |
|---|---|---|
| ITP transfer tax (resale) | ~10% (Comunitat Valenciana) | ~7% standard rate (Andalucía) |
| IVA on new-build | 10% + AJD stamp duty (~1.5%) | 10% + AJD stamp duty (~1.2%) |
| Notary + Land Registry | ~1–2% combined | ~1–2% combined |
| Independent lawyer | ~1% + IVA (typical) | ~1% + IVA (typical) |
| NIE (required to buy & to register a licence) | Modest fixed fee per person | Modest fixed fee per person |
| Tourist licence application | Low official fee; budget for energy certificate + any gestor fees | Low official fee; budget for energy certificate + any gestor fees |
Note that Andalucía's standard transfer tax has applied at around 7% in recent years, though buyers should always confirm the current applicable rate at the time of purchase, as regional governments adjust these. The Comunitat Valenciana's headline ITP remains around 10%. Rates and reductions change, so treat these as planning figures and verify with your lawyer.
Yes. Short-term letting is legal across the Costa Blanca, Costa Cálida, Costa del Sol and Costa Almería, but you must hold both the regional licence (VUT, VV or VFT) and the national single registry number, and your community of owners must not have voted to prohibit it.
The VUT (Vivienda de Uso Turístico) is the tourist rental licence used in the Comunitat Valenciana, covering the Costa Blanca. The VFT (Vivienda con Fines Turísticos) is the Andalucían equivalent, covering the Costa del Sol and Costa Almería. They serve the same purpose under different regional rules.
Yes. Under reforms to the Horizontal Property Law, a community of owners can prohibit or restrict short-term tourist letting with a three-fifths (60%) majority vote. Always review the statutes and recent minutes before buying an apartment intended for holiday letting.
The southern Costa Blanca (Torrevieja, Orihuela Costa) and the lower-density Costa Almería (Mojácar, Vera, Roquetas) are currently among the most straightforward. Málaga city is the most restricted, with licence freezes in many neighbourhoods.
Letting without the required regional licence and national registry number is illegal and can result in substantial fines, plus immediate de-listing by booking platforms, which are now obliged to verify registration numbers.
Yes. You need an NIE (foreigner's identification number) both to purchase the property and to register a tourist rental licence in your name.
Tourist rental rules now vary not just by region but by town and even by individual building — getting it wrong can cost you the income you were counting on. The Mediter Real Estate team checks community statutes, municipal compatibility and licensing potential as standard on every property we list across the Costa Blanca, Costa Cálida, Costa del Sol and Costa Almería. Contact Mediter Real Estate today and we will help you find a home that can legally — and profitably — be let to holidaymakers.
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