What happens to the bookings if I sell or inherit a holiday flat? Who looks after them, what to agree with the buyer and what to do with the licence and the listings

Short answer: if you sell, the confirmed bookings are your contracts (or your manager's), not the buyer's: the law says that contracts «only take effect between the parties who enter into them and their heirs» (art. 1257 of the Civil Code). The buyer only looks after them if they agree to, so it has to be put in writing in the deposit contract (arras) and in the deed. The licence stays with the flat and keeps its code, but the buyer has to notify the Junta of the change of holder before starting. If you inherit, it is different: the heirs step into the shoes of the deceased and the bookings pass to them.

Does the buyer have to honour the bookings I have sold?

No, unless they take them on. The guest made a contract with you, not with them. If the buyer does not want to look after them, they are still your problem: either you look after them until the handover date, or you cancel them with the consequences that has (we explain them in Cancellation policies).

And the buyer «keeping» the bookings is not automatic either. Under Spanish civil law, changing who is bound towards someone else needs that other person's consent: the substitution of the debtor cannot be done «without the consent of the creditor» (art. 1205). In practice, that depends on each platform, as you will see below.

What happens to the licence?

Registration in the Tourism Register belongs to the home: only one is allowed per cadastral reference (art. 9.1.a of Decree 28/2016). What changes with the sale is the holder of the operation, who is the one answerable to the Junta and to guests (art. 4.1).

For the buyer to carry on, the Junta explains it like this: «the new holder must notify the change of holder» with the notification form (procedure 7267), ticking «Titularidad» (holder) and entering the same registration number, with an updated nota simple. The change is recorded on the existing registration (art. 21 of Decree 143/2014), so the code does not change.

Two warnings:

• It has to be notified beforehand. Decree 143/2014 requires changes of holder to be notified «in all cases beforehand» (art. 6.2.b). Ideally it is filed just before the handover date.
• Do not request cessation if the buyer is going to carry on. Cessation is requested by the current holder and cancels the registration for good; coming back requires a new declaration. If the buyer is not going to continue the tourist use, then yes: cessation. It is in Deregistering the licence.

If the holder of the operation is your manager, the contract with them is yours, not the buyer's (art. 1257 again). The buyer decides whether to carry on with that manager or not. More detail in Changing the licence holder.

And the Booking and Airbnb listings?

On Airbnb you cannot delete the listing while there are bookings left: you can hide it so no more come in, but «you will still have to host the guests who already have confirmed bookings».

If the listings belong to your manager, all of this is done in their account and you need their cooperation.

What should I agree with the buyer?

In the deposit contract and in the deed, in writing. The law lets the parties agree whatever they want as long as it is not illegal (art. 1255 of the Civil Code). As a minimum:

1. Handover date for the keys and change of holder.
2. List of confirmed bookings from that date, as an annex: channel, dates, amount and how much has already been paid.
3. Which ones the buyer takes on and how the money is adjusted. If Booking is going to pay them for bookings you sold, or you have been paid by Airbnb for stays they will look after, it has to be offset.
4. Which ones you look after until handover, and whether you can keep accepting bookings or the calendar has to be closed from a certain date.
5. Who pays if any have to be cancelled, and who is answerable if a guest complains.
6. The transfer on Booking: who starts it and on what date.
7. The change of holder with the Junta: the buyer files it before handover, with the nota simple.
8. The manager, if there is one: whether the buyer carries on with them or not, and how your contract ends.

Do I have to tell the buyer there are bookings?

The tourism rules do not regulate the information between seller and buyer. But hiding it does not protect you: the bookings are still yours and, if you cancel them at the last minute, you pay. And if you transfer the property on Booking, the buyer takes on the future bookings and is answerable for earlier obligations, so they will want to see them. The sensible thing is to show them everything and attach the list to the contract. What a buyer usually checks is in Buying a flat with a tourist licence?.

What if I have inherited the flat with bookings?

The bookings pass to the heirs. An inheritance includes «all the assets, rights and obligations of a person that are not extinguished by their death» (art. 659), and the heirs succeed the deceased «in all their rights and obligations» (art. 661). Unlike the buyer, the heir is bound by the deceased's contracts (art. 1257).

If there was a manager, their contract ends with the owner's death (art. 1732), but the law obliges them to «finish the business already begun» if delay would be risky (art. 1718), and what they did without knowing of the death is valid with respect to guests acting in good faith (art. 1738). The bookings under way therefore continue. The urgent thing is to talk to the manager and decide who looks after them.

What you should do:

1. Tell the manager or whoever ran the flat, and make the list of bookings.
2. Decide whether you will look after them or they will be cancelled, knowing that cancelling has a cost.
3. The Tourism Register: the Junta explains the change of holder for a purchase; for an inheritance it does not go into detail. The procedure is the same notification form (7267), but confirm with the Junta (900 10 15 70) what documents it needs in your case. If there are several heirs, the title must come from all of them (art. 3.2 of Decree 28/2016).
4. The Booking and Airbnb accounts: neither Booking nor Airbnb has a help article on what to do when the account holder dies. Airbnb says an account cannot be transferred to another host, and on Booking the transfer is started by the current holder. With the holder deceased, you have to write to each platform's support. The money collected for those bookings forms part of the inheritance.

What to do with the flat afterwards is in I have inherited a flat.