Rental License Costa del Sol:
can you still get one in 2026?

If you're buying a property on the Costa del Sol with an eye on holiday-let income, you're in good company. The coast draws millions of visitors every year, and demand for well-located apartments and villas keeps climbing. But the rules that decide whether you can actually rent your property out short-term have tightened considerably over the past year, and they now hinge on exactly where (and in which building) you buy. Get this wrong and you can end up owning a property you're not allowed to advertise on Airbnb or Booking.com. Below, we break down which towns are still issuing licenses, the ownership-vote rule that changed everything in 2025, and how the application itself actually works.

The honest answer is: it depends where, and it depends on the building. Two separate gatekeepers have to say yes before you can legally offer a property for short-term holiday rental in the province of Málaga: the town hall where the property is located, and the community of owners that governs the building or complex.

If either one says no, platforms like Airbnb and Booking.com simply won't let the listing stand. Spanish law now obliges them to take down ads without a valid registration number. That makes the choice of both location and building far more important than it used to be.

Starting with the town hall side, here's the current picture across the most popular buying areas:

Even where the town hall is on board, the second gatekeeper, the community of owners, now carries far more weight than it used to. A change to Spanish law that took effect in April 2025 flipped the default completely.

This is a significant shift, particularly for buyers who are counting on rental income to justify the purchase. It also means the answer can now vary from one building to the next within the same town, even in a location where the town hall itself has no objection.

Our agents check this before you ever put in an offer. We'd still strongly recommend having your lawyer confirm it in writing and build the condition into the purchase contract. The reservation period exists precisely so this can be verified before you're committed to anything further.

New-build buyers face an extra wrinkle. Until recently, you could apply for a rental license the moment you took possession, because a brand-new community simply hadn't held a vote yet, and no vote meant no objection. That loophole is gone.

You can now only apply once the community has held its first owners' meeting and formally approved holiday rentals. In practice, that first meeting typically happens somewhere between six and eight weeks after completion.

That's rarely a dealbreaker in itself: you'd need that window anyway to get the property furnished and rental-ready. But it's worth factoring into your timeline, and worth raising with your agent and lawyer before you sign, especially if rental income is central to your plans.

The license itself is called a VFT (Vivienda con Fines Turísticos), the official registration with the Junta de Andalucía that allows you to legally offer a property as tourist accommodation. Without a valid VFT registration number, you cannot list on Airbnb or Booking.com, and platforms are legally required to remove listings that lack one.

The application itself is submitted through the Registro de Turismo de Andalucía, and once filed it typically takes two to three weeks to receive your registration number, regardless of which of the towns above the property is in.

Documents you'll need

The process, step by step

From your first conversation with your agent through to receiving your registration number, here's how it plays out:

• 1
  Check the town hall and the building Your agent confirms the town hall is still issuing licenses and checks whether the community of owners has already approved holiday rentals with the required 60% majority.
• 2
  Build it into the purchase contract Your lawyer records the rental permission as a condition in the contract. The reservation period gives you time to verify this properly, so you're never locked into a purchase where renting turns out not to be possible.
• 3
  Apply for your certificado digital Quantum Realty helps you obtain your digital signature with the Spanish authorities, a prerequisite for every official application that follows.
• 4
  Get your community certificate After the first owners' meeting (typically six to eight weeks after completion for new-build) you receive the official certificate confirming the community's approval.
• 5
  Submit the VFT application Quantum Realty files the complete application with the Registro de Turismo de Andalucía. Cost: €300. You don't need to do anything yourself at this stage.
• 6
  Receive your registration number Usually within two to three weeks, your VFT registration number arrives. From that point on, you can legally list your property on Airbnb, Booking.com and similar platforms.
• 7
  Get the property rental-ready Make sure the property has a fire extinguisher and a first-aid kit on hand. Quantum Realty can help with the rest of the setup ahead of your first guests.

Getting the license isn't the end of the paperwork: a handful of ongoing obligations come with it.

The property must have a fire extinguisher and a first-aid kit on site. You're also required to register every guest staying at the property with the national police digitally, within 24 hours of arrival. Quantum Realty handles this for you as part of our rental management service.

Short-term isn't the only option. If you rent your property out for periods of 31 days or longer, you don't need a VFT license at all. It falls under standard Spanish tenancy law instead, with its own rules and tax treatment. For buyers set on a particular building where the community hasn't yet approved short-term rentals, this can be a genuinely useful fallback rather than a compromise.

We're happy to talk through which rental model actually suits your situation and the building you're considering.

As a non-resident owner, you pay 19% tax on the profit from holiday rentals in Spain, under the IRNR, the non-resident income tax regime.

Importantly, that 19% applies to profit, not turnover: you're taxed after deducting legitimate expenses. The following are deductible:

For an exact tax filing and a full picture of what you can deduct, we recommend working with a local gestor or tax adviser. You'll find more on this on our legal services page.