SINCE the enforcement of Law 15/2018 of June 7, of the Generalitat regarding tourism, leisure and hospitality within the Valencian Community, there have been numerous changes that directly affect how to obtain a licence that allows the use of a property for tourist rental.
One of the most important changes has been to impose the obligation to obtain, prior to initiating the registration procedure of the tourist housing, a certificate of urban compatibility that establishes that the property may be used for the activity of tourist rental according to the urban planning rules of the municipality where it is located.
This document must be obtained from the Town Hall of the town where the property is located and in order to obtain this, a fee must be paid (the amount depending on each Town Hall) and an official form must be completed.
It is important to know that the existing regulations between the different Town Halls within the Valencian Community often differ considerably.
There are Town Halls that expressly prohibit in their urban planning rules the letting out of properties for tourist rental and tourist housing, so it is pointless to apply for this certificate of compatibility, because it will not be obtained until such time that the regulations and planning may be modified.
Many of these Town Halls however are currently reviewing and adapting their regulations to make it possible in areas where this activity is compatible with the environmental regulations.
There are also Town Halls whose regulations do not say anything at all about this situation and in the past they normally did not respond to any such applications.
These are normally councils in small municipalities and order to solve this anomaly, the Law 27/2018, of December 27 added an additional provision to Law 15/2018, (previously mentioned above), which established that if the Town Hall does not have regulations in this regard, it should be recognised that tourist housing and rental is expressly allowed.
One must however be careful because this rule also states that this situation will remain as long as the Town Hall does not publish new urban planning and urbanistic rules. This means that one could in good faith obtain the certificate and then the tourist rental licence, but years later, if the Town Hall changes the procedures and decides that this use is not compatible according to the new rules, it could force this activity to end.
There are, of course, Town Halls that acknowledge in their regulations that certain properties are destined for tourist rental in the areas authorised for this purpose in the urban planning and this tends to occur in the largest municipalities.
In order for the Town Hall to issue a positive certificate, that is, to certify that the property could be used for tourist rental, certain requirements must be met. In most of the municipalities it is essential that:
- Said use is compatible with the urban planning and urban regulations of the Town Hall.
- The land where the property is built is not classified as undeveloped land (rustic).
- It is necessary that the house has an occupation license or responsible declaration.
If one complies with the necessary rules, the Town Hall will then grant the certificate and owners will be able to initiate the procedure to register the property in the tourist housing registry of the Generalitat and to start the activity of tourism rental.
If you are thinking of starting a tourist rental activity in your property or of buying a home to use it for this activity, and you want to get expert advice, contact us and we will help you.
The information provided in this article is not intended to be legal advice, it simply transmits information related to legal issues.
Carlos Baos (Lawyer)
White & Baos
Tel: +34 966 426 185
E-mail: info@white-baos.com
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