Can I let my Costa Blanca home to holidaymakers?
If you plan to let your Costa Blanca home to holidaymakers, the rules will shape which property you buy. The Valencian region has not banned new holiday lets, but it has made them harder to start and easier to lose, and several towns have stopped or capped new ones.
What counts as a holiday let
Valencian law calls it a vivienda de uso turístico (VUT): the whole home, never individual rooms, let for ten days or less to the same guest through a channel aimed at tourists. Lets of more than ten days to the same guest fall outside tourism law and under Spain's general tenancy law.
What you need
| Requirement | What it means |
|---|---|
| Town hall compatibility report | The town hall confirms that tourist use is allowed at that address. Without it the home cannot be registered |
| Valencian Tourism Register | You file a declaration with the Generalitat and receive a registration number, valid for five years and then renewed with a new town hall report |
| The building's approval, for a flat | Since 3 April 2025, a new tourist let in a building needs the prior approval of three-fifths of the owners |
| A home fit to live in | A current occupation declaration and the equipment the rules require |
Homes registered before August 2024 keep their registration until August 2029, when they must be renewed under the new rules. If you buy a registered home, ask your lawyer how the registration will pass to you and when it must be renewed.
Town by town
Each town decides whether, and where, it accepts new tourist lets, and the list of restrictions grows every year. Alicante city suspended new registrations in January 2025, until early 2027, while it prepares a limit by district. Dénia gave final approval in August 2026 to an ordinance that divides its centre into zones, with a quota near the seafront and a very low limit in residential districts. Jávea moved in May 2026 to cap the total number of tourist lets. Altea, l'Alfàs del Pi, El Campello, Sant Joan d'Alacant, Polop and Guardamar del Segura also suspended new registrations in 2024 and 2025 in all or part of their area, while towns such as Torrevieja and Elche still accept them. Always check the specific address with the town hall before you sign a reservation.
Letting without registration is a serious offence: fines for the most serious breaches can reach €600,000, and by August 2025 the Generalitat had removed nearly 12,000 homes with incomplete files from the register.
Your registration number and your guests
Every advert must show the Valencian registration number, and a plaque at the door must show it too. The national registration number (NRUA) that platforms required from July 2025 was struck down by the Supreme Court in May 2026, so in the Valencian region the regional number is the one that counts. Every guest must be recorded in the national police system, SES Hospedajes. There is no tourist tax in the Valencian region: a regional tax was approved in 2022 but repealed in November 2023, before it took effect.
Tax on the rent
Rent is taxed in Spain on form 210: 19% on the net rent if you live in the EU or EEA, 24% on the gross rent if you live elsewhere, including the UK. It is declared once a year, between 1 and 20 April of the following year, although in the 2026 transition year income from January to September 2026 keeps the old quarterly deadlines if you declare each letting separately. Holiday lets without hotel-type services are not subject to VAT.
If the home cannot be registered
You can still let it for longer stays: seasonal lets of more than ten days with a written contract, or a long-term let. Seasonal lets must be genuine fixed-term lets, not short tourist stays dressed up as one, and the route is under scrutiny, so check the rules before you rely on it.
More detail in the book. Chapter 9 of Buying a Home on the Costa Blanca as a Non-Resident cover this with worked examples, deadlines and the risks behind the figures.
General information based on the rules in force in October 2026, not legal or tax advice. Rules change often: check your own case with an independent Spanish lawyer or tax adviser before you act.
Related: Selling a Costa Blanca home as a non-resident · Inheritance tax on a Costa Blanca home when you live abroad