Spanish Owner Communities Can Now Ban Tourist Rentals by 3/5 Majority Vote — What Foreign Buyers Need to Check

The reform introduces a new Article 7.3 to the LPH, establishing that any tourist rental activity now requires prior express approval from the community of owners, obtained by a vote of three-fifths of owners representing three-fifths of participation quotas. Communities can enact restrictions through two distinct mechanisms. First, they can modify Article 17.12 of the LPH to include a prohibition in the community statutes at constitution or through statutory amendment, using the same three-fifths majority. Second, they can simply refuse to grant express authorisation to individual owners who apply to start new tourist rental activity. The key shift is that until now the general rule allowed tourist rentals unless expressly prohibited, but from now on they will not be admitted without express authorisation. This reversal of the default position means silence in the statutes no longer implies permission.

The most important protection in the law is its explicit non-retroactivity. The modifications introduced have no retroactive effects, and properties already operating as tourist rentals before April 3, 2025 may continue their activities without requiring new community authorisation. However, this protection applies strictly to properties that held all necessary regional tourist licences and were legally operating before the community vote took place. The most common reasons for registration applications being revoked include not having the required tourist licence or the mandatory three-fifths majority approval from the homeowners' association. Buyers cannot rely on informal rental activity or the seller's assertion that "the flat can be rented out" — only properties with documented, licensed tourist rental status existing before any community ban are protected from future restrictions.

The community president, either on their initiative or at the request of any owner or occupant, shall require the immediate cessation of tourist rental activity if it has not been expressly approved, with warning of initiating appropriate legal actions. Where owners ignore the ban, under Article 7.2 of the Horizontal Property Law, the community can request a court order to stop the rental activity, and in severe cases the court can impose fines, demand compensation for damages to the community, or even restrict the use of the property for up to three years. Civil penalties include cessation action under Article 7.2 LPH, with possible deprivation of property use for up to three years. These are community-level sanctions distinct from regional administrative fines for operating without a tourist licence, which can reach €150,000 in Andalucía and up to €600,000 in other regions.

Even in communities that vote to permit tourist rentals or take no action at all, owners and their guests remain subject to coexistence obligations. Article 7 of the LPH prohibits noxious, unhealthy, dangerous or illegal activities as a general rule, and established case law has determined that tourist rental doesn't inherently violate Article 7, but it is necessary to prove the existence of adverse conditions resulting from such activity. Communities retain the power to take legal action against persistent noise, uncleanliness, and disturbances whether or not the property is a tourist rental. The same court procedures — formal warning from the president followed by legal action — apply to any owner or occupant whose behaviour breaches community rules or causes proven nuisance to neighbours.

Nationwide, tourist rentals represent 1.43% of homes, most of them concentrated in coastal areas rather than major cities. Based on data from Spain's Statistics Institute, more than 403,200 tourist rental units were registered at the August 2024 peak, and in November 2025 tourist flats accounted for 1.43% of Spain's total housing stock. The highest concentrations are in Andalucía, Comunitat Valenciana and Catalunya — precisely the regions where most foreign buyers are purchasing. In popular coastal municipalities and islands, the proportion is far higher, creating significant pressure on local housing availability and a political environment strongly supportive of tighter restrictions.

Anyone buying an apartment in a community of owners with plans to generate tourist rental income must take three critical steps before signing. First, request a certified copy of the current community statutes and any minutes of general meetings in the past two years to check whether a ban or restriction is already in place. An estate agent's verbal assurance is not sufficient evidence. Second, understand that even if the statutes are currently silent, the community can vote at any time to ban future tourist rentals — buyers are not protected against future restrictions unless the property already holds an active tourist licence that was operating before any vote. Third, if the property currently operates as a tourist rental, verify that it holds all required regional licences (VUT, VFT, HUT or equivalent) and that these were obtained and active before 3 April 2025, as only these fully documented rentals are protected from retroactive bans. Checking community statutes, voting records, and licence status is a core part of the legal due diligence process before purchase. Foreign buyers who skip this step risk purchasing a property they cannot legally rent to tourists, with no legal recourse and a significantly reduced resale value. Understanding what the law says — and crucially, what it does not say — is essential before committing hundreds of thousands of euros to a Spanish property purchase.