How to start renting your flat to tourists in Andalusia, step by step: the right order (and how long each step takes)

Short answer: the first three steps are filters, and they go in this order: your municipality must admit new tourist homes at that address, your owners' association must approve it by three fifths, and the flat must meet the Junta's requirements. If one fails, stop spending. After that, the "licence" is a responsible declaration filed online, free of charge, which lets you rent from the moment it is registered. The calendar is set by the association (three weeks to three months) and the cost by getting the flat ready (€800 to €4,000).

1. Can I rent to tourists at this address?

It depends on your town hall: it has to admit new tourist homes in that area. Since Decree-Law 1/2025, a municipality can suspend new registrations for up to three years (the moratorium). At the end of September 2026, on the Costa del Sol only Málaga city had them suspended; Fuengirola only admits them with an independent entrance from the building.

Enter your address on the "Can I rent here?" map and, if you want the official answer, ask Urban Planning in writing for an urban planning compatibility report: when you register you declare that the home is compatible, and if it is not, the registration is cancelled (art. 9 of Decree 28/2016). Also excluded are social housing (VPO) flats while their protection lasts and homes in «asimilado a fuera de ordenación» (AFO) without municipal authorisation (art. 1.3).

More in: municipal moratorium, urban planning compatibility certificate and homes in AFO.

2. Will my owners' association let me?

Only if it expressly approves it. Since 3 April 2025 you need the vote of three fifths of the owners, who must also hold three fifths of the shares (arts. 7.3 and 17.12 of the Horizontal Property Act), and the Junta asks for the certificate of the agreement.

Two rules help: absent owners who do not vote against within 30 days of receiving the minutes count in favour, and the president must call an extraordinary meeting if 25 % of the owners or shares request it. If the by-laws ban tourist use, there is no registration until they are changed.

More in: Can my owners' association ban it?, how to ask for the vote and by-laws that ban it.

3. Does the flat meet the requirements?

It must comply with the Junta's Decree 28/2016. What rules out most flats: 14 m² built per place according to the Cadastre (minimum 25 m²), rounding down; two bathrooms above 5 places and three above 8; and 4 places per room at most. A 60 m² flat means 4 places, not 6.

And also:

• Cooling in bedrooms and living room if you open between May and August, and heating if you open between December and March; fixed or portable, never a fan.
• Direct ventilation and blackout in the bedrooms; beds of at least 80×190 or 135×190 cm.
• The equipment in the Annex: television, coffee maker, toaster, iron, hairdryer, two towels per person, spare set of sheets…
• First-aid kit, fire extinguisher and smoke detector.

You do not prove it when you register, you declare it; it is checked if you are asked for documents or inspected. Take a photo of each item.

More in: flat requirements, square metres per place and mandatory equipment.

4. What paperwork do I need and who files it?

A responsible declaration to the Junta (procedure 6631), online only and compulsorily with the digital certificate of the holder: you or, if you prefer, your manager as holder of the operation. Cl@ve does not work for filing it.

Have ready: cadastral reference, nota simple from the Land Registry, the association's certificate, the contract that allows you to operate it if you are not the owner, and the places and operating periods (the simplest: all year, repeating annually).

Once the declaration is registered, you can advertise and rent; not before: renting without registration is a serious offence, with a fine of €2,001 to €18,000 (art. 78 of Law 13/2011 on Tourism in Andalusia).

More in: documents for the licence and how it is processed.

5. How long does it take and how much does it cost to get started?

Registration is free and there is no such thing as a "licence fee". The time is set by the association: three weeks to three months until you have the agreement. The rest is quick: nota simple in hours (about €10), free digital certificate in up to a week, one hour of form-filling. The resolution with the code may take weeks, but meanwhile you are already operating.

The money goes on getting the flat ready: €800-1,500 if it is already furnished and has air conditioning, €3,000-4,000 if you have to buy climate control, mattresses or appliances. In a normal flat it is recovered with the first four to eight weeks of high season.

More in: how long the licence takes and what it costs and how much it costs to start.

6. What do I do before the first booking?

Five things:

1. The registration code in every listing (Booking, Airbnb, your website, social media). If a platform asks for a number before the resolution, use the entry record number.
2. Sign up to SES.Hospedajes, from the Ministry of the Interior: once. After that, each traveller over 14 is reported within 24 hours of check-in (Royal Decree 933/2021).
3. Insurance that declares tourist use. It is not mandatory, but with your usual home policy you may be left without cover.
4. Official complaint forms on paper, with their sign, and tourist information about the area.
5. Energy efficiency certificate, with its label in the listings (arts. 3 and 16 of Royal Decree 390/2021), even though the Junta does not ask for it.

And the Tax Agency: without hotel services (cleaning or change of linen mid-stay, breakfasts) you do not register in the business census or charge VAT (art. 3.2.a of Royal Decree 1065/2007); with them, you do, plus 10 % VAT.

More in: code in listings, guest registration and insurance.

7. What obligations will I have each month and each year?

In the normal case (private individual, no hotel services), nothing monthly with the Tax Agency: no quarterly VAT and no self-employed contributions; what there is goes by booking and by year.

• Each booking: guest registration within 24 hours, cleaning on arrival and departure, a document by way of contract signed by the guest (you keep it for a year) and a proof of payment.
• Each year, the tax return: the income goes into IRPF as income from real estate capital (art. 27.2 of the IRPF Act), deducting expenses in proportion to the days rented, plus a small imputed income for the empty days.
• Before 1 January, the operating periods for the following year, if you did not tick annual repetition.
• Whenever something changes (holder, places, periods, contact details), notify the Junta.

Self-employed? With one flat, no hotel services and a manager, usually not, although there is no fixed threshold. If you live outside Spain, you are taxed as a non-resident (form 210).

More in: the Tax Agency, do I have to be self-employed? and operating periods.

8. Do I manage it myself or hire someone?

Doing it yourself saves the commission in exchange for 5-8 hours a week in high season, living less than half an hour away, having a cleaner with a stand-in and not travelling in July and August. Full management charges 15 % plus VAT on what you receive from the platforms, excluding cleaning; a listings-and-pricing-only manager, 8-12 %, and keys and cleaning are up to you.

The test: can you be at the flat within 30 minutes on a Saturday in August at eleven at night?

More in: manager or do it myself? and channel manager or full management.

Checklists and templates

To follow these steps without forgetting anything, in Downloads you will find checklists and templates ready to print or fill in.