Gecko Towers:
In my latest E-book, published earlier this year, “Buying a Property in Marbella? Please, read this first.” I included a chapter “Sweating Your Asset.” The conventional thinking is that your Marbella property should “wash its face” contributing materially towards its upkeep by realizing some kind of rental income.
A huge thank you to all those who purchased my E-book and for their very positive feedback – much appreciated. If you’d like to get your own copy please follow this link https://amzn.eu/d/7uVvXFD
Aside from the costs of purchasing your Marbella property, you are likely to have annual maintenance costs, including Community Fees and local property taxes such as IBI (like Local Authority Rates) and Basura (Rubbish costs). Historically, placing your property for rental on an international website who would advertise its availability, handle bookings and process payments became a very normal practice for many owners. Several years ago the local tax office – colloquially “the Hacienda“ – cottoned onto this practice with sums paid by tourists often being undeclared for Income Tax.
We don’t have room here to go into the great detail as to the taxes due, and how they are calculated, but my E-book holds more. However, this blog post should be read in conjunction with my E-Book as it brings it right up to date in this particular aspect of economic activity in Andalucia.
Scroll forward, starting in February 2024 and coming up to date in 1st July 2025, the ambition of the local and central governments, ostensibly to root out money laundering, terrorist activity and to protect their interests in preserving the tax take, have resulted in the introduction of various pieces of legislation intended to impose some level of control. This impacts upon which properties may be used for tourist rentals, who is responsible for ensuring that returns are delivered stipulating who is renting, for how long and who is accompanying the tenant during their stay in the apartment/villa.
Let’s look at some of the main changes introduced by the above legislation to the law relating to short-term stays. For clarity, a short-term tourist tenancy is defined as being a lease of a property to a third party in exchange for a fee for a duration of less than 31 days.
From Decree 31 of 2024 – The VUT ( Vivienda de Uso Turistico) – the Tourist License – which previously was in the name of the owner of the property must now be in the name of the party managing the short term rental use of the property, usually a Managing Agent. This party is now responsible for recording bookings and checkins.
A property owner can, I understand, obtain the VUT in their own name and must obtain and display their VUT registration number when listing their properties on online platforms. However, the application for registration must be made by the ’Empresa Explotadora’. This may the individual (even the Owner) or a Managing Agent but whoever they must be the party who meets and greets the tenants and manages the property.
There is now a mechanism whereby existing VUT’s (previously called VFT’s) can be changed into the name of the Managing Agent without there being the necessity to apply for a new license.
From Decree 31 of 2024 there is now the obligation to record the VUT on the general Property Register where the property is registered.
Managing Agents are only permitted to operate under a VUT at a maximum of two properties in the same urbanisation. If they wished to operate any further properties at the same urbanisation then they would be obliged for each additional property to apply for a license for an Apartamento Turistico (“AT”). Should the property, the target of the AT, already have a VUT then the VUT would first have to be cancelled.
Again from Decree 31 of 2024, it was obligatory, in applying for the previous form of license, to declare the period for which the property would be available for tourist rentals. As of August 2024 the period to declare expired. If this declaration was not made in time then it was assumed by the authorities that the property will be available for year-round use and cannot be used for another purpose including the owner’s own use.
A change of use declaration is required to be given for the owner’s own use which, I am told, can be achieved relatively simply provided that the property benefits from a VUT license and not an AT. In the latter case, strictly, the property can only be used for touristic rentals throughout the year.
As of April 3rd 2025 a modification to the existing Law of Horizontal Property (LHP) comes into effect. The LHP governs the setting up and management of urbanizations and their communities. With effect from this date, the Community of Owners, which, together with the President of the Community, is responsible for the management of the relevant urbanisation, may decide at an AGM or EGM, by a 3/5th majority – of those owners that have 3/5ths of the quota of the entire urbanisation – to give or withhold their express approval to allow properties at the Community to be used for touristic purposes or not.
Should an Owner at an urbanisation, as considered in above, wish to apply for a VUT then part of the application for such a license will need to include a copy of the express written authority of the Community of Owners allowing the applicant to use the property for such intended purpose. In addition, the registration process involves submitting a “Declaracion Responsable” (Responsible Declaration) which identity files who is the party that is responsible for the property and complying with the various reporting requirements.
The Managing Agent is also responsible for two key elements:
a. When a direct booking is made – if not on a platform such as AirBnB – they must notify the Guardia Civil by online notice. And
b. When checking in the short term tenant, full details of the tenant and all guests need to be obtained and notified online to the Guardia Civil.
The Managing Agent is also responsible for the supply of linen, fire extinguishers, first aid kit and some general local tourist information.
Failing to obtain and hold a valid VUT or AT means that you cannot legitimately market your property for tourist rental. If you do you risk a fine ranging from €2,000 (For minor infringement) to €18,000 (for serious infringement).
It should be noted that the Junta de Andalucia’s Minister of Tourism has recently announced penalties for registering a new tourist property in those areas, like Malaga City, that already has 43 neighborhoods where no new licenses for holiday properties will be grated. He also reported that licenses for more than 6,700 tourist properties, over a third of which were in Malaga City, have already been canceled.
The Ministry is also dedicated to rooting out clandestine touristic rentals that operated without a license, partially, by the use of AI robots that scour rental listings to highlight offenders.
In progressing your purchase in Marbella, if tourist rentals are key to your planning you’ll need to work closely with your trusted Abogado (Lawyer) to ensure that you are able to fully realize your plans.
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Please note that our posts are for general interest. There is no substitute for proper advice tailored to your specific circumstances as provided by a qualified Abogado who is experienced in the application of the Spanish Law. Nothing contained in this article should be seen or taken as legal, tax or financial advice and cannot be relied upon as such. Neither the writer nor the publisher accepts any responsibility for liabilities arising as a result of reliance upon the information given. All details have been reasonably fact-checked and all efforts have been taken to ensure that facts are accurate as at the date of publication.
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