Problems with the authorities

Can they take away my tourist licence? Grounds for cancelling the registration, how the procedure works and how to appeal

Q: On what grounds can it be cancelled?

Ground | What the rules say | Article | False or inaccurate essential information in the responsible declaration | Information about the holder's identity and about «planning legality» is always considered essential | Law 13/2011 art. 38.4; Decree 28/2016 art. 9.2 | No longer meeting the requirements (square metres, bathrooms, heating and cooling, equipment…) | «…or that those conditions have ceased to be met» | Decree 28/2016 art. 9.2; Decree 143/2014 art. 14.2 | Not offering the home in the periods you declared | Providing the service «means actually offering the home on tourist channels during the declared periods» | Decree 28/2016 arts. 3.1 and 9.2 | Missing licences or authorisations, especially planning ones | Cancellation if their «non-existence» is established | Decree 28/2016 art. 9.2; Decree 143/2014 art. 14.2 | Notice from the town hall that the home does not comply with its planning rules | The town hall reports it to Tourism «so that it may proceed with the cancellation» | Decree 28/2016 art. 9.3 and 9.4 | Not providing the documents you are asked for | The Junta gives 10 working days and, if you do not provide them, starts the cancellation | Law 13/2011 art. 38.4; Junta FAQ | Penalty for very serious offences | Only if you have been penalised two or more times for very serious offences in three years, with a final decision, and there is serious harm | Law 13/2011 art. 78.3 |

Q: How does the procedure work?

1. Start. The Territorial Delegation of Tourism opens the procedure. It may come, for example, from a request for paperwork, an inspection or a notice from the town hall (What happens if the Tourism inspectors check my flat?). 2. Hearing. Cancellation always requires a «prior hearing of the interested parties» (art. 9.2 of Decree 28/2016). You have between ten and fifteen days to make representations and provide documents (art. 82.2 of Law 39/2015). This is the moment to show that you comply or to fix whatever is missing. If you receive a letter, see I have received a formal request from the Junta. 3. Reasoned decision. The Junta has six months from the start to decide and notify you (art. 14.2 of Decree 143/2014). If it does not, the procedure lapses and is closed (art. 25.1.b of Law 39/2015). Careful: the lapse does not stop them opening another one (art. 95.3).

Q: Can the owners' association take my licence away?

Not directly. The owners' association has no power over the Tourism Register. What it can do is go to the civil courts. The president requires you to stop the activity and, if you carry on, with authorisation from the owners' meeting, files a claim for cessation. The judge can order the activity to stop and deprive you of the use of the home «for a period not exceeding three years» (art. 7.2 of the Horizontal Property Act). Since 3 April 2025, this also applies to anyone renting without the express approval of the owners' association (art. 7.3).

Q: What if my town hall approves a moratorium?

A moratorium does not by itself cancel homes that are already registered. Decree-law 1/2025 allows the town hall to suspend «licences and responsible declarations for tourist homes», that is, new declarations, for up to three years (art. 6.2), not existing registrations. Whether an increase in places counts as a new declaration has not been clarified (changing the number of places).

Q: How do I avoid having it taken away?

1. Tell the truth in the responsible declaration: square metres from the Cadastre, places, holder, planning compatibility and owners' association authorisation. 2. Keep meeting the requirements at all times and notify any change within fifteen days (art. 14.1 of Decree 143/2014): Mandatory equipment. 3. Advertise the home in the periods you declared. If you do not want to rent for a few months, change the periods (Operating periods). 4. Reply on time to any formal request from the Junta and provide what it asks for. 5. Before registering, ask the Urban Planning department whether tourist use is compatible on your plot (Planning compatibility certificate). 6. Have the owners' association agreement if you register from April 2025 onwards. 7. Avoid very serious offences, which are the only ones that can end in cancellation as a penalty (What fines can I get?).

Yes: the Junta can cancel the registration if the responsible declaration contained false or inaccurate essential information, if you stop meeting the requirements, if you do not offer the home in the declared periods or if the town hall reports that it does not comply with its planning rules. Always with a prior hearing and with a right of appeal.

Reviewed on 3 October 2026 · By the team at Torremolinos Gestión Vacacional, more than ten years managing holiday rentals · Markdown version · Versión en español

Terraza acristalada de un apartamento turístico en Fuengirola con vistas al puerto deportivo y al mar

Short answer: yes. What we call the «licence» is the registration in the Tourism Register of Andalusia (Registro de Turismo de Andalucía), and the Junta can cancel it. There are four main grounds: false or inaccurate essential information in the responsible declaration, no longer meeting the requirements, not offering the home in the declared periods and the town hall reporting that it does not comply with its planning rules (art. 9 of Decree 28/2016). Before cancelling it, the Junta has to hear you (a hearing). If it cancels it, you can appeal. The owners' association cannot cancel it by itself, although it can take you to court.

What does it mean to have my licence «cancelled»?

That the home no longer appears in the Tourism Register and you cannot carry on renting it to tourists. It is not a fine. It is something else, and it may or may not come with a fine. If you want to rent again, you will have to file a new responsible declaration meeting the requirements in force at that time.

If you are cancelled for false or inaccurate information, the decision can also stop you registering the home again for one year (art. 38.4 of Law 13/2011).

On what grounds can it be cancelled?

Ground	What the rules say	Article
False or inaccurate essential information in the responsible declaration	Information about the holder's identity and about «planning legality» is always considered essential	Law 13/2011 art. 38.4; Decree 28/2016 art. 9.2
No longer meeting the requirements (square metres, bathrooms, heating and cooling, equipment…)	«…or that those conditions have ceased to be met»	Decree 28/2016 art. 9.2; Decree 143/2014 art. 14.2
Not offering the home in the periods you declared	Providing the service «means actually offering the home on tourist channels during the declared periods»	Decree 28/2016 arts. 3.1 and 9.2
Missing licences or authorisations, especially planning ones	Cancellation if their «non-existence» is established	Decree 28/2016 art. 9.2; Decree 143/2014 art. 14.2
Notice from the town hall that the home does not comply with its planning rules	The town hall reports it to Tourism «so that it may proceed with the cancellation»	Decree 28/2016 art. 9.3 and 9.4
Not providing the documents you are asked for	The Junta gives 10 working days and, if you do not provide them, starts the cancellation	Law 13/2011 art. 38.4; Junta FAQ
Penalty for very serious offences	Only if you have been penalised two or more times for very serious offences in three years, with a final decision, and there is serious harm	Law 13/2011 art. 78.3

And one more that depends on you: voluntary cessation, which you notify yourself and which is definitive (Deregistering the licence).

Non-essential errors (a typo, a secondary detail) do not lead to cancellation. The Junta asks you to correct them within ten days and, if you do not, treats the declaration as not submitted (art. 12 of Decree 143/2014).

How does the procedure work?

Start. The Territorial Delegation of Tourism opens the procedure. It may come, for example, from a request for paperwork, an inspection or a notice from the town hall (What happens if the Tourism inspectors check my flat?).
Hearing. Cancellation always requires a «prior hearing of the interested parties» (art. 9.2 of Decree 28/2016). You have between ten and fifteen days to make representations and provide documents (art. 82.2 of Law 39/2015). This is the moment to show that you comply or to fix whatever is missing. If you receive a letter, see I have received a formal request from the Junta.
Reasoned decision. The Junta has six months from the start to decide and notify you (art. 14.2 of Decree 143/2014). If it does not, the procedure lapses and is closed (art. 25.1.b of Law 39/2015). Careful: the lapse does not stop them opening another one (art. 95.3).

Can the owners' association take my licence away?

Not directly. The owners' association has no power over the Tourism Register. What it can do is go to the civil courts. The president requires you to stop the activity and, if you carry on, with authorisation from the owners' meeting, files a claim for cessation. The judge can order the activity to stop and deprive you of the use of the home «for a period not exceeding three years» (art. 7.2 of the Horizontal Property Act). Since 3 April 2025, this also applies to anyone renting without the express approval of the owners' association (art. 7.3).

What the Junta can do is cancel the registration if what you declared about the owners' association was not true. When you register, you state that the by-laws do not prohibit the activity and, since March 2025, that the owners' association has expressly authorised it (art. 9.1.g of Decree 28/2016). If that was false, it is inaccurate essential information.

If your home was already registered before the owners' association banned it, you are protected: those agreements «shall not have retroactive effect» (art. 17.12 of the Horizontal Property Act), and anyone already carrying on the activity before 3 April 2025 can continue (second additional provision). More in My association's by-laws ban tourist rentals and Can my owners' association ban it?.

What if my town hall approves a moratorium?

A moratorium does not by itself cancel homes that are already registered. Decree-law 1/2025 allows the town hall to suspend «licences and responsible declarations for tourist homes», that is, new declarations, for up to three years (art. 6.2), not existing registrations. Whether an increase in places counts as a new declaration has not been clarified (changing the number of places).

What does exist is another route: if the town hall considers that a registered home does not comply with its planning rules, it reports it to the Junta so that the Junta cancels it (art. 9.3). The same applies if it opens planning enforcement proceedings that involve ending the tourist use (art. 9.4). The rules do not make clear what happens to a home that was compatible when it was registered and stops being so because of a new plan. If that is your case, ask your town hall's Urban Planning department. The situation by municipality is in What if my municipality has a moratorium?.

How do I appeal against the cancellation?

The notification has to tell you which appeal is available, to whom and within what deadline (art. 40.2 of Law 39/2015). The usual route:

Administrative appeal (recurso de alzada) to the head of the Regional Ministry of Tourism, within one month of notification (arts. 121 and 122). That is what the cancellation decisions the Junta publishes in the BOJA indicate. The Regional Ministry has three months to decide; if it does not reply, the appeal is deemed dismissed.
Then, a contentious-administrative appeal in court, within two months of being notified of the decision on the appeal, or within six months if they do not reply (art. 46 of Law 29/1998).

If the decision ends the administrative route, instead of the administrative appeal you can lodge a one-month appeal for reconsideration (recurso de reposición) or go straight to the contentious-administrative courts (arts. 123 and 124).

Can I carry on renting while I appeal?

It depends on whether it is a penalty or a cancellation.

If it is a penalty (fine, suspension or closure): it is not enforced while an ordinary administrative appeal is still possible (arts. 90.3 and 98.1.b of Law 39/2015). But the decision can keep interim measures in place in the meantime (art. 90.3).
If it is a cancellation of the registration: it is not a penalty, so, on our reading of the articles, it is enforceable from the moment you are notified. Administrative acts are «immediately enforceable» (art. 98.1), and appealing «shall not suspend the enforcement of the contested act» (art. 117.1). That is why you should expressly ask for suspension in the appeal, explaining the harm that would be impossible or difficult to repair (art. 117.2). If they do not reply within one month of your request, enforcement is deemed suspended (art. 117.3). We have not found any Junta decisions on this point: with a case like this, consult a lawyer before carrying on renting.

How do I avoid having it taken away?

Tell the truth in the responsible declaration: square metres from the Cadastre, places, holder, planning compatibility and owners' association authorisation.
Keep meeting the requirements at all times and notify any change within fifteen days (art. 14.1 of Decree 143/2014): Mandatory equipment.
Advertise the home in the periods you declared. If you do not want to rent for a few months, change the periods (Operating periods).
Reply on time to any formal request from the Junta and provide what it asks for.
Before registering, ask the Urban Planning department whether tourist use is compatible on your plot (Planning compatibility certificate).
Have the owners' association agreement if you register from April 2025 onwards.
Avoid very serious offences, which are the only ones that can end in cancellation as a penalty (What fines can I get?).

What we do

Before taking on the management of a home, we check in the Junta's search tool that the registration exists and is in the right person's name. After that we keep an eye on the periods and the requirements. If cancellation proceedings have already been opened against you, the prudent thing is to prepare your representations with a lawyer.

Sources

This guide is general information prepared from official sources and the experience of a management company operating on the Costa del Sol. It is not legal or tax advice for your specific case. Rules change: the date of the last review is shown above.