Checklist for changing the holder of a tourist home that is already registered

1. Before filing anything

What kind of change it is and who can be the new holder.

• Check that the home is already registered: then you do not file a new responsible declaration, you notify the change of holder.Notification form to the Registro de Turismo de Andalucía (the Andalusian Tourism Register), the Junta's procedure 7267.
• Do not request cessation if the new holder is going to keep renting to tourists.RecommendedCessation cancels the registration for good; coming back requires a new declaration under the requirements in force at that time.
• Make sure the new holder has a title entitling them to operate the whole home.CompulsoryDecree 28/2016, art. 4.1. If they are not the owner: management contract, assignment, free loan (comodato) or usufruct. Without a valid title, the Junta cancels the registration (art. 9.2).
• If the home has several owners, the title has to come from all of them.Depends on your caseDecree 28/2016, art. 3.2. If you operate it yourselves, the Junta asks for a shared ownership annex signed by each co-owner.
• If the flat is marital property (gananciales), both spouses must sign the management contract and whatever is filed with the Junta.Depends on your caseCommunity property is managed by both spouses (art. 1375 of the Civil Code); an act without the necessary consent can be annulled (art. 1322).

2. The notification to the Junta

Notification form to the Registro de Turismo de Andalucía (procedure 7267). Free and online.

• File it before the date of the change, not afterwards.CompulsoryDecree 143/2014, art. 6.2.b: a change of holder is notified «en todo caso con carácter previo» (in all cases in advance). Other changes allow 15 days afterwards; this one does not.
• The new holder files it, with their digital certificate, at the Junta's virtual office.The buyer, the heir, the new manager or you if you take it back. If the outgoing manager does not cooperate, the new one can file it with your contract.
• Tick «Titularidad» (holder), enter the new holder's details, the registration number (VFT/VUT) and the operating periods.
• If a manager comes in or changes, attach the management contract.Depends on your caseIt is the legal title entitling them to operate the whole home.
• If it is a purchase, attach the updated nota simple (Land Registry extract) from the Registro de la Propiedad.Depends on your case
• If it is an inheritance, first confirm with the Junta what documents they ask for.Depends on your caseThe Junta explains the change for a purchase, not for an inheritance. The form is the same (7267). Junta phone line: 900 10 15 70.
• If a representative signs without a legal entity certificate, attach the power of attorney.Depends on your case
• Send the complete documents the first time.RecommendedThe maximum period for a decision is three months and silence counts as refusal. In the meantime, the home stays registered and can still be rented.

3. Bookings already confirmed

They are contracts with guests: they do not disappear because the holder changes.

• List the bookings from the date of the change: channel, dates, amount, how much has been collected and who holds it.Recommended
• Agree in writing who looks after each booking and until what date.RecommendedThe holder of the operation answers to the Junta and to the guest (Decree 28/2016, art. 4.1), but if nobody opens the door, the problem ends up being the owner's.
• If you sell, state in the arras (deposit contract) and in the deed which bookings the buyer takes on and how the money is adjusted.Depends on your caseThe buyer is not bound by your bookings unless they take them on (art. 1257 of the Civil Code).
• If you inherit, bear in mind that the deceased's bookings pass to the heirs.Depends on your caseCivil Code, arts. 659 and 661. Talk as soon as possible to the manager or whoever ran the flat to decide who looks after them.
• If the outgoing manager collected advance payments for direct bookings, ask for them in the final settlement.Depends on your caseThey have to account for and hand over whatever they have received (art. 1720 of the Civil Code).
• Avoid cancelling: whoever cancels pays.RecommendedAirbnb charges 10, 25 or 50 % depending on notice. On Booking you request the cancellation and the guest accepts it. Direct: 30 % with less than 10 days' notice (Decree 28/2016, art. 8.3).

4. Booking and Airbnb listings

This is a commercial matter, separate from the Junta. It all depends on whose name the listings are in.

• Check whose name the listings are in: the owner's or the manager's account.Recommended
• If they are yours, change collaborator: remove the outgoing manager and add the new one.Depends on your caseCo-host on Airbnb, user on the Booking extranet. On Airbnb, a removed co-host stops earning commission on bookings starting afterwards: agree this beforehand.
• If the Booking property is in someone else's name, ask whoever has it now to start the transfer.Depends on your caseOnly the current holder can start it. Future bookings and payouts issued afterwards pass to the new one, who is liable for previous obligations. It takes up to 7 days.
• Confirm with Booking whether the reviews are kept before taking anything for granted.RecommendedAs it is the same property, they normally stay, but Booking's official help does not say so.
• If the Airbnb listing is in someone else's name, bear in mind that neither the listing nor its bookings can be moved to another account.Depends on your caseThe bookings stay in that account until completed and are looked after by its holder or someone on their behalf. The new listing starts with no reviews.
• If the account holder has died, write to each platform's support team.Depends on your caseNeither Booking nor Airbnb has a help article for that case. The money from those bookings forms part of the estate.
• Keep the same VFT/VUT code in the listings.The code belongs to the home, not to the holder: it does not change.

5. On the day of the change

• Hand over or collect all the keys and change the codes of locks and key boxes.Recommended
• Hand over access to the guest registration platform, the Wi-Fi and the utility accounts if the outgoing party managed them.Recommended
• Both parties sign the inventory.Recommended
• Close a final settlement in writing, signed by both parties.RecommendedBookings up to the date, pending payouts from platforms, deposits returned and invoiced expenses. If there was a transfer on Booking, how payouts arriving afterwards are split.