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Guide
Short-term rental on the Costa del Sol
Whether short-term rental is possible is decided by three separate authorities: the rules of Andalusia and its tourism register, any restrictions of the particular municipality, and since 3 April 2025 the consent of the owners’ community by a three-fifths majority where the activity is newly started.
You buy a property in order to rent it out short term, and only then find out you are not allowed to.
How it really is
Whether short-term rental is possible is decided by three separate authorities: the rules of Andalusia and its tourism register, any restrictions of the particular municipality, and since 3 April 2025 the consent of the owners’ community by a three-fifths majority where the activity is newly started.
What changes it
The new rule applies to owners newly starting short-term rental. Situations that existed earlier may be assessed differently in law, and transitional cases belong in the guide, not on a homepage. If the building does not allow short-term rental, you can let the property long term, but not through Airbnb or Booking. Andalusia also states that its tourism register will not allow registration in municipalities that have introduced their own restrictions.
What we do about it
On a resale property we read the community statutes and the lawyer verifies them. On a new build we ask the developer in advance whether they allowed for it. Before the reservation we check whether the rental you have in mind will actually be possible and properly registrable.
In 30 seconds
Since 3 April 2025, a community of owners must actively vote, by a 3/5 majority, to allow NEW short-term rental activity in the building. Before that date the rule ran the other way: rental was allowed unless owners voted to ban it. This is a real, current risk, not old news.
Why can two similar apartments have opposite answers?
Nothing about a property's price, size or finish tells you whether it can legally be rented to tourists. Three separate authorities decide it, independently of each other, and all three have to say yes.The region runs the tourist registry itself, the VUT system. Since a February 2025 reform, a property also needs an existing municipal licence, or a change-of-use declaration permitting tourist use, before that regional registration can even be filed. Since 3 April 2025, a third gate applies: your own community of owners must vote, by a three-fifths majority of owners and of participation quotas, to actively authorise new tourist rental activity in the building. Before that date the default ran the other way; a community had to vote to BAN it, and silence meant rental was allowed. Now silence means the opposite.
1
Regional registration (VUT)
Who decidesGovernment of Andalusia
What it grantsA registered tourist-rental number
If noNo legal short-term rental at all, regardless of the other two.
2
Municipal licence or change of use
Who decidesThe town hall, since Decreto-ley 1/2025
What it grantsConfirms the property is allowed to change use for tourist rental
If noThe regional registration cannot even be filed.
3
Community vote, 3/5 majority
Who decidesYour community of owners, since 3 April 2025
What it grantsAuthorises NEW tourist rental activity in the building
If noRental is blocked at building level even where the region and town hall both allow it.
One NO at any gate stops the whole plan, whatever the other two decided.
Is this a new risk, or something that has always applied?
The community vote is genuinely new, not a rule that was always there and just went unnoticed. Before 3 April 2025, a community had to actively vote to prohibit tourist rental; if it never held that vote, rental was simply allowed. Since that date the law flips the default: a community now has to actively vote, by the same three-fifths majority, to allow it. A building that never discusses the subject at all is now a building where new tourist rental is not permitted, by default, rather than one where it quietly is.A property already legally operating as a tourist rental before 3 April 2025 is generally understood to continue under the rules it started under. It does not need the new vote applied retroactively. This point rests on consistent legal commentary, not on the primary text checked article by article in this build. Have your own lawyer confirm it for a specific building before relying on it, especially for a resale property advertised as already having a rental history.
Before 3 April 2025Since 3 April 2025
A community that never discussed tourist rental effectively allowed it by default.
Silence now means the opposite: NEW tourist rental activity is blocked unless owners actively vote, by a 3/5 majority, to permit it.
The community's only real power was to vote to ban rental, which most never bothered doing.
The community now holds the deciding vote either way, and a seller's claim that "the community has no objection" needs the actual minutes to back it up, not an assumption.
Does the April 2025 community-vote rule affect an owner who is already renting out their apartment?Consistent legal commentary treats a property already legally operating as a tourist rental before 3 April 2025 as continuing under its existing basis, without needing the new vote applied retroactively. This guide did not independently re-verify that against the primary legal text, article by article. A lawyer should confirm it for any specific building before you rely on it, particularly where a resale property listing claims an existing rental history you have not seen documented.
Do some towns restrict this further, on top of the region and the community?
Málaga city has gone further than the regional rules. A planning modification, finalised in August 2025, permanently blocks new tourist-rental registrations in 43 named neighbourhoods, including the historic centre and several central districts. These are neighbourhoods where tourist flats already make up more than 8 percent of homes. A separate, citywide moratorium on any new hotel or tourist-rental licence on residential land was definitively approved on 16 July 2026 and runs for three years, or until the city finishes redrawing its urban plan. A tourist rental already legally registered before these measures continues, provided it keeps meeting its ordinary habitability, safety and tax obligations.Whether any other Costa del Sol town has introduced a similar restriction has to be checked town by town. It cannot be assumed from Málaga's example. This guide has no confirmed restriction to report for Marbella specifically. That is different from confirming Marbella has no restriction at all: the honest answer is that this is unverified, not settled. The town hall or a local lawyer gives the current position for a specific address before you rely on it.
What does this mean for a rental income tax, once renting is actually possible?
Whether renting is legally possible and how the income is taxed are two separate questions. Only the second one depends on your own tax residency. An EU or EEA tax resident pays 19 % on the NET rental income, after deducting expenses genuinely linked to it. A non-resident who is not an EU or EEA tax resident pays 24 % on the GROSS income, with no expense deduction under the standard rule. A 2025 court ruling would extend expense deductions to non-EU residents too. But the state has appealed it, and the tax authority's practice has not changed. The higher, no-deduction figure is what applies in practice today for that group.None of this matters until the first three gates are cleared. Before recommending or reserving a property specifically for its rental potential, we check its actual VUT status or eligibility, the relevant municipal rules, and the community's own minutes and stance on tourist rental. We do not simply take a listing's or an agent's word for it. We also do not treat "the previous owner rented it out" as proof that you will be allowed to as well. The rules that decide it have changed since many of those historic arrangements began.
Yes, and it is worth taking seriously rather than treating as small print. The community vote that took effect on 3 April 2025 is a real, structural change: a building that simply never discusses tourist rental used to default to allowing it. It now defaults to blocking it instead. Add the municipal-licence gate from a few weeks earlier, plus Málaga city's own citywide moratorium on new licences, approved 16 July 2026 for three years. A property's rental potential can no longer be assumed from what a similar-looking apartment nearby is doing.This is general information about how the Andalusian and national rules currently work, not a guarantee for any specific property. Two of the details above rest on consistent legal commentary rather than an article-by-article primary-text check in this build. A lawyer confirms the live position before you commit to a purchase for its rental income. Arevont checks a property's VUT status, its municipality's own rules and the community's stance before recommending it for that purpose. We take no extra fee for saying no when the answer is no.
Most common questions about short-term rental
If the seller shows me an existing VUT registration number, does that settle the question?
It confirms the regional registration exists, which is one of the three gates, not all of them. It does not, by itself, confirm the community currently permits the activity or that no new municipal restriction has since applied to that address. Ask for the community's own minutes on the subject as well as the registration number.
Can a community of owners reverse a decision that already allowed tourist rental?
The 3 April 2025 reform is about NEW authorisation. Consistent legal commentary treats a property already operating lawfully before that date as continuing under its existing basis, rather than needing a fresh vote. A community's general power to regulate or restrict an existing activity is a separate legal question from the new-authorisation vote itself. It is worth a lawyer's specific confirmation for a given building, rather than assuming either way.
Does buying an apartment where the community already voted yes settle the question for good?
It answers the community-level gate as things stand today, not permanently. A community can revisit its own rules over time, and neither the regional registration nor a municipal licence removes that possibility. Treat a yes vote as the current position, confirmed at the time of purchase, not as a fixed guarantee for the life of your ownership.
The other three worries
Okupas
Squatters will take over your apartment while you are back home, and you will not get them out for years.