Can I use my tourist flat myself or close it for a few months without deregistering? What to do with the periods, the listings and the bookings you already have

Short answer: yes, and without deregistering. The tool is the operating periods: the months of the year in which you declare that the home is open to tourists. Within those periods it has to be on offer on the platforms; outside them you cannot advertise it to tourists, but you can use it yourself or put it to another use. To close for the winter or keep a month for yourself, you change the periods with a communication to the Junta, free and online, before the new period begins. The only delicate part is the bookings you already have: the new periods have to keep them inside, because cancelling them is expensive and hosting outside the period is a clandestine offer.

What exactly do the rules say?

Three sentences sum it all up:

• Decree 28/2016 says that the home «may only be marketed in the periods indicated, marketing outside them being considered clandestine activity» (art. 3.1).
• And that «the provision of the service entails the actual offer of the home on tourist offer channels during the declared periods» (art. 3.1).
• The Junta makes it clear in its FAQ: «You may only put your home to another use outside the operating periods you have indicated in your responsible declaration».

In other words: within the period, the home is offered to tourists; outside it, it is yours for whatever you like, except renting it to tourists. How the periods are declared is explained in Operating periods.

Can I use the flat myself for a few days?

A few odd days, in practice, yes: you block those dates on the calendar and the listing stays live and bookable for the rest of the period. The rules say nothing about the owner's own use; what they require is that the home is on offer on the platforms during the period, and it still is.

Whole weeks or a month, better do it cleanly: take those dates out of the declared periods with a communication before they arrive. That way, during your stay the home is outside the period and nobody can say you stopped providing the service. It is the most prudent reading of the Junta's sentence: «another use», including yours, goes outside the periods.

An example: if you spend August in the flat every year, declare September to July with annual repetition and forget about it.

Can I close it in winter without deregistering?

Yes. Deregistering is something else: it is the cessation, which is final, and coming back requires a new responsible declaration with the requirements in force at that time (Deregistering the licence). To stop for a few months, changing the periods is enough:

1. Log in with a digital certificate to the communication form of the Tourism Register (the same one used to change the holder).
2. Tick all the periods in which you want to operate. Careful: the new communication replaces all the previous ones, so if you only tick what changes, you delete the rest.
3. Decide whether they repeat every year. If not, you will have to communicate next year's before 1 January, because the Junta warns that otherwise you are exposed to «penalty or cancellation proceedings».
4. File it before the new period begins: the Junta asks for it to be done «always in advance».
5. Keep the receipt. It is free.

And then, close the listings for those months: no dates available on Booking, Airbnb and the rest, or with the listing deactivated. A listing that can be booked in a month outside the period is marketing outside the period.

What happens if I stop advertising it without changing the periods?

You are breaching what you declared. If the periods say «all year» and the home is not on offer on any platform for months, there is no «actual offer». Failure to actually provide the service is one of the grounds on which the Junta can cancel the registration, always after hearing you (art. 9.2 of Decree 28/2016). We explain it in Can they take away my tourist licence?. Changing the periods takes ten minutes and gets rid of the problem.

And the bookings I already have on those dates?

It is the first thing to look at, before communicating the new periods. You have two options:

Honour them (recommended). Adjust the periods so that confirmed bookings stay inside: for example, if you want to close from November but have guests until 12 November, declare the period until the 12th and close the calendar to new bookings from then on. If you declare the closure with guests inside, that stay falls outside the period: exactly what the rules call marketing outside the period.

Cancel them. You can, but whoever cancels pays:

Cancellation policies, in more detail, in Which cancellation policy do I set?.

And if what I want is to give it up altogether?

Then yes: cessation. But in the same order: first you check what bookings there are, close the calendar to new bookings, honour the ones you already have and communicate the cessation once the last guest has left. If you sell the flat, the bookings have their own rules: What happens to the bookings if I sell the flat?.

Can I rent it by the month in the closed months?

Yes, with conditions: outside the periods you can put it to another use, such as a seasonal let (alquiler de temporada), as long as it is for more than two consecutive months with the same tenant (below that, advertised on a platform, it counts as tourist) and for less than a year, because the Junta considers being registered incompatible with a residential let of one year or more. Combining tourists in summer and a seasonal let in winter has its own guide: Can I rent to tourists in summer and by the month in winter?.

How does it affect my taxes?

The days the flat is closed or you use it yourself are not rented days: for them you declare imputed income in your IRPF, like any second home (art. 85 of the IRPF Act), and the year's expenses are split between rented and non-rented days. Keep a calendar with the rented days, the closed ones and your own. How it is calculated, in Do I pay tax for the days the flat is empty?.

What to do, in order

1. Check the confirmed bookings on all platforms for the dates you want to close or use.
2. Decide the new periods, keeping those bookings inside.
3. Communicate the periods to the Junta before the new period begins, ticking them all.
4. Close the calendar on the platforms for those dates, the same day.
5. Note in your calendar the rented, closed and own-use days, for your tax return.

If you have a manager, tell them in good time: they are the one who sees the bookings coming in every day and who usually files the communication if they appear as holder of the operation.