UPDATED 05/03/19 The new Decree Law has been re-approved and is now in effect. Here is what you need to know as a holiday rental owner.
The new law 7/2019 stipulates that holiday rental properties that are located within a community must have the approval of three-fifths of homeowners to be permitted to rent out the property for short term holiday lets.
Approval by the community of owners is by a majority which means that three-fifths of the total of the owners (who, in turn, represent three-fifths of the participation quotas) must vote in favour of tourist activity. The community of owners also has the power to set limitations or conditions on the exercise of tourist activity such as obligating owners of holiday rental properties to made additional payments to the community or increased community fees (not exceeding 20%).
IMPORTANT: These changes do not affect the tourist homes that are already active and have their holiday rental licence, that is, it is not retroactive.
You can read the full legal text in Spanish here.
UPDATED 28/01/19 Decree Law that tried to regulate tourist rentals is thrown out
- The Decree Law on urgent housing measures was approved by the Council of Ministers
- The measure established that tourist rentals would be regulated as an economic activity
- After the new Decree was rejected, the regulation reverts again to the Urban Leasing Law of 2013
The Decree Law on urgent measures in housing matters, approved by the Government in December 2018 has been thrown out at the Plenary Session of the Congress of Deputies (Pleno del Congreso de los Diputados) in January 2019. Said decree established that tourist rentals were to come out of the Urban Leasing Law to be regulated as an economic activity. But now it returns to the same legal situation of the year 2013.
The decree has been rejected with 241 votes against 103 in favour.
The Royal Decree was approved by the Council of Ministers on 14 December 2018 and established that the communities of owners could limit or veto the tourist use of the houses with a majority of three fifths.
After the vote of 22 January 2019 in the Congress, the effective regulation returns to be the Law of Urban Leases of 2013 (LAU - la Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos 2013).
IMPORTANT: The information below, published on 18 December 2018 is no longer relevant or in force.
- The BOE has published on Tuesday 18th December 2018 the Royal Decree of urgent measures in the field of vacation rentals.
- The decree outlines specific measures relating to the marketing of rental properties through rental websites
- At least three-fifths of the owners in a community must vote in favour in order to allow the tourist use of properties in a community.
On Tuesday 18th December 2018, the Official State Gazette (BOE) published the Decree 21/2018 of December 14, on urgent measures relating to tourist holiday rentals.
The decree includes the amendments to the Urban Leasing Law (LAU – Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos) and the Horizontal Property Law (Ley de Propiedad Horizontal)
Section I, which includes the amendment of Law 29/1994, of November 24, on urban leases, establishes a technical precision in the exclusion from the scope of application of the Law on temporary assignment of the use that It involves the activity of the so-called tourist housing, eliminating the limitation that these must necessarily be marketed through tourist supply channels and specifically referring to the provisions of the tourism sector regulations that result from application.
You can read the full legal text in Spanish here.
Section II, corresponding to the measures of reform of the horizontal property regime, sets out the requirement that all holiday rental properties must have approval from the community of owners, by a majority, in order to rent out the property for holiday lets. Approval by the community of owners is by a majority which means that three-fifths of the total of the owners (who, in turn, represent three-fifths of the participation quotas) must vote in favour of tourist activity. The community of owners also has the power to set limitations or conditions on the exercise of tourist activity such as obligating owners of holiday rental properties to made additional payments to the community or increased community fees (not exceeding 20%).