Tourist rent in the Valencia Community ( Alicante, Valencia and Castellon). Tourist letting management companies.

Dear White Baos lawyers, We own a property in Calpe, Alicante (Comunidad Valenciana) and do not use it, we mainly let it out short term to expats / British tourists via the internet for days or weeks. We have read somewhere that to let a property in Spain a special license is required, and that if we do not have it, we could face problems. Could you please confirm if this is the case and what we should do?.

Dear reader, thank you for your mail.

You should know that the Valencia Community adopted the decreto (a kind of Law) number 92/2009, which regulates the letting/rental of tourist properties (apartments, villas, chalets, bungalows and other), and management companies ( empresas gestoras).

This rule applies in the Valencia Community, which means the provinces of Alicante, Valencia and Castellon. The objectives of this rule is firstly to try to ensure the quality of the properties’ facilities rented by tourists, to protect them, and secondly to try to reduce the number of tourist properties let out beyond the control of the authorities.

We must differentiate between the normal rent, whether habitual or temporary rental of a house which is regulated on the Urban Lettings Law (Law 29/1994) and the rent of tourist properties, which are regulated in the D 92/2009 mentioned. A tourist property letting is defined by the following facts: the property is rented in exchange for rent, it is done regularly, with immediate availability and for holiday or leisure purposes.

So if you let your property mainly to British tourists via the Internet on a regular basis in exchange of a rent, we believe that the D 92/2009 applies to you, and for its wording should be highlighted:

Article 3.2: you are not obliged to communicate the tourist use of the house and get registered, if you only let out directly one tourist property, although you could do so voluntarily.

Article 8.2: those who let only one property directly must comply in any case with the conditions stated in the D.92/2009, particularly in Annex 1, which indicates the minimum size of the rooms, appliances to be in the kitchen, the need for an evacuation plan of the property, list of emergency phone numbers, etc.

Article 10.4 also states that if you rent out only one properties, and you choose not to communicate or register it, you must state explicitly in its advertising that the property and its use has not been communicated nor registered with the tourist authority.

Thus, in you case where you own and let only one touristic property in the Valencia community, you must comply with rule 92/2009 but registration is optional and you should mention the non-registration in any advertising. The communication and registration are mandatory when you let more than one property.

Special mention must be made in respect of a tourist housing management company ( empresas gestoras de viviendas turísticas), i.e. any property or real estate agent or mediator who is engaged to deal with this kind of rental (at least 5 properties), they must also be entered in a special register (registro de las empresas gestoras) and comply with these rules.

If you rent out properties under these conditions and if you want to fulfill the law or check if you are breaching it or you require our assistance to present the relevant communication or get registered, and you are a property owner, real estate agent, mediator, etc. please do not hesitate to contact us.

The information provided on this article is not intended to be legal advice, but merely conveys general information related to legal issues.

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