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Renting out a holiday home for a couple of weeks? What used to be relatively straightforward has now become a complex web of regional and local regulations. One particular restriction that many owners are unaware of is especially important: in the Comunitat Valenciana, it makes a significant legal difference whether the same flat is let for ten days or for five weeks.
Owning a holiday home, registering it with Turismo and then letting it out to holidaymakers – the situation in the Comunitat Valenciana can no longer be summarised quite so simply. The Generalitat has tightened the rules governing holiday lettings whilst, at the same time, giving local authorities considerably more discretion. As a result, Dénia regulates the sector differently from Torrevieja, whilst l’Alfàs del Pi, in turn, follows its own model.
However, before owners check what their local council allows, there is another question to consider: is this actually a holiday let?
Since the reform of Valencian tourism legislation in 2024, a clear boundary has been in place. As Holiday Accommodation, or VUT for short, refers to entire flats or houses which are let to the same tenant for a maximum of ten consecutive days for tourist purposes in return for payment.
So, anyone who lets out their flat to holidaymakers for a week is, in principle, subject to the VUT regulations. This requires, amongst other things, tourist registration and a positive local authority certificate confirming compliance with town planning regulations.
However, under Valencian regulations, no VUT is expressly provided for in the case of eleven or more consecutive days to the same tenant.
This means, for example, that a five-week or three-month tenancy can be classified as a seasonal tenancy – holiday let – to be drawn up. It is generally governed by the Spanish tenancy law (LAU) and not by the VUT regulations.
However, this does not mean that every ten-day tenancy agreement is automatically a seasonal tenancy. The tenancy must genuinely be temporary and should be described and justified as such in the tenancy agreement. This could be a temporary stay for work, study or medical treatment – but it could also be a temporary holiday stay.
A German owner can, for example, let their house for six weeks to a couple who spend part of the winter on the Costa Blanca, without this necessarily constituting a short-term holiday let for the purposes of tourism law. The situation is different, however, if longer contract periods are used merely on paper in order to keep short-term holiday lets to different guests outside the scope of tourism law.
Even when children, relatives or friends use the property free of charge, the situation is different: in the absence of rent or any other form of consideration, it is generally not regarded as a let for hire.
In the case of a genuine holiday let lasting up to ten days, the second tier comes into play. The Generalitat requires local authority confirmation that the property is compatible with town planning regulations for a VUT. At the same time, the local authorities themselves are free to determine where and to what extent VUTs are permitted.
Three places on the Costa Blanca illustrate just how different things can be.
Torrevieja continues to work on the local impact assessment. Property owners must submit an application for a VUT Certificate of Planning Compliance apply for this and, amongst other things, submit details and documents relating to the property. There is currently no comprehensive zoning scheme comparable to that in Dénia, with different VUT ratios.
l’Alfàs del Pi is taking a more restrictive approach. The local authority is working on its own VUT regulations and has already suspended the issuing of new urban planning compatibility certificates. Restrictions are planned, depending, amongst other things, on location and building type. Important for property owners: the local authority’s documents expressly distinguish lettings of more than ten days from the VUT – seasonal lettings under the LAU therefore remain in a separate category.
Dénia This illustrates particularly clearly just how local the rules can now become. Following the public consultation process, the city further relaxed its new VUT by-law in August 2026.
In residential areas where no new VUTs were originally planned, a quota of up to one per cent is now to be permitted. Parts of the historic centre – including Loreto and Les Roques, as well as Calle Sant Pere in Baix la Mar – have also been opened up compared with the initial draft. In the area between Camí del Llavador and the beach, the permitted proportion of new VUTs has even been increased from the original 15 per cent to 25 per cent.
This example shows that a short-term holiday let (VUT), which would in principle be permitted under the Generalitat’s regulations, may nevertheless be subject to local restrictions. Before making an investment or switching to holiday lettings, you should therefore always check the specific address – not just the local authority.
At first glance, a five-week seasonal tenancy sounds like the simpler alternative to a VUT. However, it does entail certain legal obligations.
Under the LAU, a seasonal tenancy is generally regarded as a tenancy for a purpose other than permanent residential use. Section 36 of the LAU stipulates a statutory deposit of two months’ rent for such tenancies. In contrast, for a standard tenancy agreement covering a permanent main residence, the deposit is only one month’s rent.
The amount of this statutory fianza The landlord cannot simply set this at, say, 500 euros as they see fit. This is to be distinguished from an additional contractual security deposit, which the parties may agree upon separately.
In the Comunitat Valenciana, there is an additional requirement: the landlord must deposit the statutory security deposit with the Generalitat Valenciana. The Generalitat also expressly stipulates two months’ rent for tenancies not intended for permanent residence. The deposit can be paid electronically, amongst other methods, via the relevant procedure provided by the Generalitat.
This rule seems particularly unusual in the case of a seasonal tenancy lasting just five or six weeks: the statutory deposit can be considerable in relation to the total duration of the tenancy.
For this reason, a seasonal tenancy should not be improvised using a „holiday tenancy agreement“ drawn up by the tenant themselves. Particularly in the case of foreign owners, it is advisable to discuss the tenancy agreement, the security deposit and the tax implications with a gestor, a tax adviser or a solicitor specialising in Spanish tenancy law before the first letting.
Here, too, the legal situation has recently changed. The government scheme for a standard registration number for short-term lettings – often referred to as the NRUA – introduced in 2025 initially also covered seasonal lettings offered via online platforms.
However, in May and June 2026, the Spanish Tribunal Supremo repealed significant parts of this system. This affects, in particular, the registration procedure via the land registry or relevant register and the associated obligation to obtain a registration number in order to be able to offer short-term accommodation on online platforms. The consolidated text of the law now expressly states that the relevant articles have been repealed.
Older guides which continue to require an NRUA across the board for all short-term holiday or seasonal lettings are therefore no longer fully in line with the current legal position.
This is separate from the reporting obligations to the Ministry of the Interior. Royal Decree 933/2021 defines paid accommodation very broadly and explicitly includes private individuals. The Ministry of the Interior points out that even non-professional providers may, in principle, be subject to these reporting obligations. This guest registration via SES.Hospedajes should therefore be regarded separately from the VUT licence, the seasonal tenancy agreement and the NRUA system, which has since been partially abolished.
For owners, this means there is essentially one rule to bear in mind: do not ask about a „holiday let licence“ straight away, but first clarify what type of letting is actually planned. A week with a succession of holiday guests, six weeks with a couple, or three months with a winter resident can, in legal terms, be entirely different arrangements for the same property.
And when it comes to traditional holiday lettings, the location is now an additional deciding factor. Just because something is permitted in Torrevieja does not necessarily mean it is allowed under the same conditions in Dénia or l’Alfàs del Pi.
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