The proliferation of tourist apartments in Spain, which coincides with record tourism figures and an escalation in housing prices, has become a political and social issue of the first order for the most affected regions and municipalities, which are acting in different ways to deal with the situation.
Stricter requirements to carry out the activity, reinforce inspections, decree moratoriums on the granting of licenses or restrict the opening of accommodations in the most stressed areas are some of the most popular strategies among autonomous communities and city councils.
Canary Islands, which experienced large demonstrations against mass tourism on April 20, prohibited VUTs in tourist or mixed-use areas in 2015 (that is, practically the entire archipelago), but the decree was dismantled by judgments instigated by the National Commission of Markets and Competition and since then only the presentation of a responsible declaration is required.
Right now a Vacation Housing Law is in public consultation that the Government plans to approve at the beginning of 2025 and sets precise limits: vacation housing may not exceed 10% of the residential buildability of each island (except in El Hierro, La Gomera and La Palma, where the limit rises to 20%).
In addition, not a single vacation home can be authorized if the municipal planning does not establish it, and the City Council in question will have to justify it with sustainability criteria.
Several municipalities have requested the declaration of a stressed area, and in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria vacation homes are required to be on the ground floor of the buildings and with a separate entrance, but the vast majority do not meet the requirement.
The central Executive itself seems determined to intensify the control of tourist use homes (VUT), and just two days ago it announced its intention to limit temporary rentals by requiring them to be justified in the contracts. It also intends to reform the Horizontal Property Law so that neighbors can authorize or veto tourist apartments on their properties.
The most relevant measures adopted in the rest of the autonomous communities are summarized below.
Andalusia empowers municipalities to limit the maximum number of tourist apartments
In Andalusia, the pressure from VUTs has already triggered mobilizations such as those that occurred just six days ago in Malaga and Cadiz, with thousands of protesters against the proliferation of tourist apartments, and the Junta approved in January a decree that empowers municipalities to limit the maximum number of tourist apartments per building or sector.
Seville was going to be the first city to apply the decree, establishing that the number of VUTs allowed should not exceed 10% of the total number of family homes, but the opposition (PSOE, IU and Vox) overturned the PP Government's proposal, considering that it did not respond to the demands of the residents.
Malaga will henceforth require new tourist apartments to have a separate entrance, but without retroactive effect, so accommodations already active will not have to assume the rule.
Granada has temporarily suspended the granting of licenses while it prepares new regulations for use, and Cadiz has also stopped processing new VUT licenses in the old town.
Catalonia: tourist apartments will disappear from Barcelona in 2029
Barcelona has recently made headlines by announcing its mayor, Jaume Collboni, that the city will no longer have tourist use homes in 2029, as the city council will not renew licenses for this activity or grant new ones, which has put the entire sector on a war footing.
Licenses for tourist homes were already frozen in Ciutat Vella since 2014, a prohibition that was later extended to the entire city.
The Parliament of Catalonia validated last December a decree law that regulates tourist use homes, although the Govern, in the hands of ERC, committed to the PSC to modify the regulations so that it was only mandatory in 140 municipalities, and not in the 262 initially planned.
The municipalities must modify their urban planning to expressly include the possibility of hosting tourist apartments, justifying that they have sufficient land for permanent housing and setting the ratio of VUTs per home that they consider appropriate.
Balearic Islands prohibits them in multi-family buildings
In the Balearic archipelago, tourist pressure is the focus of public debate, and specifically the illegal rental of apartments is the hobbyhorse of the island administrations; the Consell de Mallorca launched a plan last October to combat it, but has admitted that it is very complex to detect and sanction it.
The rental to tourists of homes in multi-family buildings is prohibited throughout the island of Ibiza, in Palma and in the main tourist municipalities of Mallorca. In Menorca it is allowed in urbanizations and in some urban centers.
The measures of Aragon, Asturias and Cantabria
In Aragon, the most outstanding initiatives have come from Pyrenean villages such as Ainsa or Canfranc, which since 2023 have rules that limit this type of housing and have since paralyzed the granting of new licenses.
The Government of Asturias has recently approved a legal modification to toughen the requirements for VUTs and reinforce control mechanisms, which contemplates more severe sanctions for offenders (between 1,500 and 100,000 euros), vetoes tourist rental by rooms and requires the express authorization of the neighborhood communities.
The Government of Cantabria is working on a new decree to regulate tourist use homes to replace the one in force, from 2019. As a novelty, the city councils will be able to limit tourist homes to the ground and first floors of the buildings.
The panorama in Castilla-la Mancha, Castilla y León and Extremadura
The Government of Castilla-la Mancha regulates VUTs through a decree of 2018 and maintains close collaboration with platforms such as Booking to detect intrusion.
The City Council of Toledo is working on an ordinance that contemplates concentrating VUTs in disused buildings in the historic center, which would have to be rehabilitated for this purpose, and setting a maximum of tourist apartments per area.
Castilla y León is promoting the elaboration of a new regulation of VUTs. This autonomous community already imposes fines of between 9,001 and 90,000 to tourist apartments that act without prior responsible declaration.
Extremadura has no problems with tourist apartments despite the increase in this type of accommodation in cities such as Mérida and Cáceres. The regulation of these is established by a decree of 2012, which does not contain particular limitations or prohibitions.
The measures of Galicia and Madrid
Santiago became the first Galician city to regulate tourist apartments, in 2023, vetoing them in a total of 276 streets, mostly in the monumental area.
However, the new local government led by the BNG has overturned the use of 650 that operated as tourist use homes without the corresponding license, and a new rule will limit the tourist use of accommodations to a maximum of 60 days a year and provided that the apartments are the habitual residence of a natural person for at least 183 days.
The City Council of Madrid launched in April an action plan that included, as the most outstanding measure, the temporary suspension of the granting of municipal licenses. It was also decided to toughen the sanctioning regime for unlicensed apartments, publish a list and map of licensed VUTs and reinforce the staff of inspectors.
After the summer, a new urban planning regulation will order the VUTs to avoid the "desertification" of the resident of the Central district.
Regulations of the Valencian Community and Murcia
The Valencian Government intends to unify the legislation in this matter in a single autonomous regulation that will link the granting of the license to the owner of the property in order to avoid speculation in the sale, so that if it is transferred to third parties, the authorization will lapse and must be requested again.
In the city of Valencia, in May the suspension of licenses for tourist apartments located in communities of owners and commercial premises was approved for one year, a moratorium that already applies in the historic center and will now be extended to almost the entire city.
Although the region of Murcia has more than 7,000 VUTs, the situations of tension that other autonomous communities suffer have not occurred. The Tourism Institute of the Region of Murcia (ITREM) carried out almost 600 face-to-face inspections in 2023, detecting about 100 apartments that worked without a license and finally imposing 27 sanctions.
The actions of Navarra, La Rioja and Euskadi
The scarce prevalence of the problem in Navarra makes the Foral Executive advocate for the need to "regulate and plan" this offer, but without specifying measures for now. Only the City Council of Pamplona has established certain conditions for issuing licenses, also applying special regulations for the Old Town.
The main measure of the Riojan Government has been to reinforce inspections, while the City Council of Logroño approved in 2021 an urban reform (without retroactive effect) to limit tourist homes to the ground, first or mezzanine floors of the buildings, unless they are in an independent construction body.
The Basque Country regulates tourist apartments in its autonomous Tourism Law (2016), which establishes safety regulations and the maximum number of places per square meter to offer and, in addition, gave rise to the creation, in 2018, of a registry to which it is mandatory to register.
In San Sebastián there is a suspension in the granting of licenses that began in 2023 and is extended until 2026, and Bilbao arranged two years ago that the VUTs can only be on the first floor of the buildings.