Tourist Licence in Spain

[Seb2455]

Hi,

I normally am a guest on Air B&B, however, I am interested to know more about the situation if I was living in my own apartment in Spain in one of the Cities and I was to rent out a Room in the Apartment,preferbly for short term letting.

Respectivly,I would not need a Tourist Licence for this? Correct? & will need to go down a different legal route here in Spain?

It appears that getting hold of a Tourist Licence anyway is very difficult here in Spain and depending on the area and what floor your apartment is on! 

But if I was Living in the apartment and used for short term letting,no tourist Licence is needed?Yes?

[Elaine701]

@Seb2455

It varies from region to region. In some regions it's not necessary, in others, it's possible to get a licence, and in those cases, some regions are really easy and almost free, others are very bureaucratic and expensive.

But in every case, having a licence means you'll have to declare and pay tax on your income. A good Gestoria can take care of all of that for you, and make it really easy. You can write off your operating expenses,  if you reinvest some or all of that income back into the property, it's another tax write off.

Here in Mallorca, it's required to have a licence, but at the moment, there is a moratorium on new licences and you simply cant get a new one. We have a licence that was issued before the moratorium, so we're legal.

In areas where a licence is required, you can also buy a place that has a preexisting licence and transfer it to your name.

Hope that helps.

[Seb2455]

O.K, Thanks Elaine for your advice 🙂

[Elaine701]

@Seb2455 

I'd just like to add that if you're in a region that requires licencing, and you operate without one, the authorities can and will cause you some pretty serious damage (40K Euros minimum fine here, plus back taxes and penalties, and you'll be shut down for good), so think carefully about how you proceed.

Having said that, once licenced, they pretty much leave you alone.

Happy hosting!

[Seb2455]

O.k,thanks for the answer and information, and just to Clarify this also applies to whether you rent just one room out for a short period or the entire Apartment, a tourist Licence is always needed? but of course,for Long term rental then no Tourist licence is needed.👍

[Elaine701 · Accepted solution]

@Seb2455

You should check your local authority in charge of that to get a detailed set of the rules in your region. 

But in general, a tourist licence applies to dwellings which are habitually rented [for money] for periods of less than x-days (in some cases, it's 11 months, in other cases, it's less than 90 or 60 days - check your local laws).

The key thing is advertising. If you're listed on tourist platforms like Airbnb or Homeaway or Booking.com, and have no licence, they'll eventually find you, and then you could be subject to some serious pain.

Aside from a neighbour reporting it, advertising is generally how they'll find you. But without being listed on a platform (or other advertising), it's quite difficult to get bookings.

Besides, the purpose of licencing is to ensure that the dwelling offered meets basic safety and quality standards, and of course, to make sure you pay tax on the income.

Having said that, there's no law I'm aware of preventing you from having friends and family stay at your house, as long as there's no evidence you are making money from it.

Hope that helps.

[Seb2455]

Thanks Elaine,that's really helped and with great advice 🙂