The risks of buying a Spanish property with a tourist licence in 2025

Buying properties to rent out to tourists in Spain has become a risky business as it’s no longer the solution to making a quick buck.

This is primarily down to overtourism and the country's housing crisis. There are simply too many tourist lets in major cities in Spain and many regions have had to crack down on them, including adding stricter rules for which apartments can get licences, or simply not issuing them at all in certain central areas anymore.

This means that in some major Spanish cities, buying a property which already has a tourist licence attached to it is the only way you can get one.

As a result of this, apartments with tourist licences are highly desirable. According to holiday apartment rental company Grupo Marbo, in Barcelona neighbourhoods of Eixample or Gràcia, the price of a property can increase as much as €100,000 if it already has a tourist licence.

But can you simply change ownership of a tourist licence when you buy a new property in Spain?

One important thing to keep in mind is that rules on tourist rentals are constantly changing due to the evolving situation, and every few months it seems that another city or region has announced it will stop issuing licences or has introduced rules to say that tourist apartments have to have separate entrances, or can’t be on higher floors etc.

Due to this volatility, it may not always be possible to change a licence over so easily, even if the property you're buying has one already.

One important factor to note is that tourist licence rules are managed by each individual city council or municipality, so they change dramatically, depending on where you want to buy a property. This means that the laws on transferring licences vary a lot too.

In some cities new rules only affect those applying for new licences, but in others, they could apply to existing licences too.

The new Andalusian decree on tourist accommodation introduced last year states that after the transfer of ownership of the property, the license is not preserved, so the new owner will be required to comply with the regulations in force at the time of acquisition.

In Málaga for example, due to recent changes in the rules, the authorities will allow you to transfer the licence, but you must comply with the current restrictions even if these didn’t affect the previous owner.

At the end of 2024, Málaga banned tourist flats in a total of 43 neighbourhoods, so it could be likely that if you buy an apartment in one of those areas with a tourist licence, it may not be transferable.

The President of the Andalusian Association of Tourist Housing and Apartment Professionals (AVVAPro), Juan Cubo, warns that "if someone tries to sell a home with a tourist licence, they are lying to the buyer," since the licence's validity is no longer maintained after the transfer of ownership”.

The government of Valencia also changed the rules in August 2024. The new law states, "the current legal and regulatory regime and requirements will apply to both the home and the new owner”. This means that the buyer must submit a new declaration of compliance along with a favourable municipal urban planning compatibility report. So it’s not a shoe-in that you’ll even be able to keep the licence.

The new community of neighbours rule for holiday lets

To make matters even more complicated, there are the new powers which community of neighbours have to veto new tourist lets in their residential buildings, a nationwide measure introduced in April 2025.

Although it is not yet 100 percent clear if they can prevent a pre-existing property with a tourist licence from operating as a holiday let when it changes hands, there's a high change that with the new legislation any judge will rule in the comunidad's favour if they did not want the tourist apartment to continue in their building under a new owner.

READ ALSO: How the rules for tourist lets in buildings in Spain change in April

Therefore if you buy a home in a residential building in Spain which has other property owners, you shouldn't assume you can just transfer a licence into your name when buying a property with a licence anymore, you will also need to get permission from the neighbours.

You will either need to request a certificate from the Property Registry certifying that the community of neighbours gives permission or get their approval if there was no tourist licence to begin with.

How to transfer a tourist rental licence

Generally, if it’s possible, you can transfer the tourist rental licence into your name at your local ayuntamiento (town hall) or online, on the portal of your municipality or region. You must typically do this within two months of buying the property and there are usually no fees for changing it.

Generally the document’s you will need include:

• New owner's ID
• Previous owner's ID
• Tourist licence
• Cadastral reference
• Nota simple – This is a document issued by the Property Registry that contains information on the ownership and legal status of a property.
• Application form

Keep in mind that getting the cambio de titularidad (change of ownership) certificate will not necessarily be free and could take a few weeks or months.

Before you buy a property with a tourist rental licence it’s important to contact a property lawyer or speak with someone from your town hall to make sure it will actually be possible to change it into your name.

As seen with all the examples above, it may not always be.

It’s also worth keeping in mind that there are lots of false advertisements out there, stating the property for sale has a tourist licence when the truth is that it doesn’t.

In recent months, advertisements for properties with a tourist licence in Valencia have appeared more frequently as a way to attract more buyers, even though it’s not true.

Therefore, it’s always worth asking for a copy of the licence to make sure before you just go ahead and buy any property that claims it has one.