Advertising your holiday rental without a HUT Number
As of the 30th January 2014 it is now compulsory to include your HUT number in all advertising for your holiday rental. This measure has been taken to assist the Generalitat in tracking down holiday rentals without a licence number. It is expected they will now start to examine holiday rentals websites, seeking out properties not displaying their HUT number.
If you haven’t already applied for your licence, it is essential you do so. If you have applied, but are waiting to receive the number, please inform us, so we can mark your listing as ‘in process’.
We recommend you read this article if you want to find out more about applying for your holiday rental licence in Catalonia.
Please note as of May 2014, Barcelona City Council has suspended the issue of licences in neighbourhoods within the city centre.
Quality grades for your holiday rental in Catalonia
Once you have registered your property with your local town hall, the ‘Notificación Previa’ is passed on to the Generalitat to process your HUT number. Notification of your HUT number will come with a document, which requests further details about your property. Completing this form is optional, but it gives you the choice to apply for a grade within your category i.e. Private Holiday Rental (Habitatges d’ús turístic) or Tourist Apartment (Establiments d’apartaments turístics). The grade system is based on the Catalan Tourism quality system, which rates the quality of accommodation from 1 to 5 key symbols.
Example: Your property is registered as Private Holiday Rental (Habitatges d’ús turístic) and has been quality graded as: 3 keys
If you decide to apply for your quality grade - again it is not obligatory, your property will be subject to an inspection, which costs 145 €. The grade system was published back in November in the Diari Oficial de la Generalitat de Catalunya. The system is now available and prices for the application, revision and renovation of category grades, have been published, as follows:
To obtain a category grade:
- Private holiday rental (Habitatges d’ús turístic) 144.45 €
- Tourist Apartment (Establiments d’apartaments turístics) 198.77 € plus 1.21 € per apartment or studio
To make a revision or for the renovation of a category
- Private holiday rental (Habitatges d’ús turístic) 72,23€
- Tourist Apartment (Establiments d’apartaments turístics) 99,39€, plus 1,21€ € per apartment or studio
We understand that although the registration for a licence with your local town hall should be a free application, as originally published by the Generalitat de Catalunya; some town halls have been charging a fee for this process and it has been impossible to argue the case with them. Perhaps the introduction of the grade system and new fees being applied, will mean an end to the initial charge.
We would appreciate your feedback on the costs you have incurred for the initial application of your licence from your local ayuntamiento (town hall).