Renting out your Spanish property in 2026: rules, licence and tax
Who this is for: For owners who live outside Spain. The tax rate depends on where you are tax resident: UK owners pay 24% on the gross rent, Irish and other EU owners 19% on the net rent.
Bought a home in Spain and thinking of letting it? A home by the sea can earn its keep. But there are two ways to let it, and they are almost two different worlds, each with its own rules. Here are both, with an honest look at tax and at where you need a licence.
In short
A long-term let needs no licence and little effort. A holiday let earns more but needs a licence (on the Costa Blanca: a town hall compatibility report and a registration number shown in every listing) and, since April 2025, the approval of your owners' community. Non-resident tax on rental income is 24% of the gross rent for UK owners, with no expenses deductible, and 19% of the net rent for Irish and other EU owners. The annual return on form 210 is now due between 1 and 20 April of the following year.
Two kinds of letting
A long-term let means renting the home to someone who lives there: a contract of a year or more, a steady tenant, little work.
A holiday let means short stays, by the night or the week, to tourists. The income is higher, but so is the effort: you need a licence, cleaning between guests and listings on the booking platforms.
The rules and the tax treatment differ. Let us take them in turn.
Long-term letting: the simple option
No special licence is needed: you let the home on an ordinary residential tenancy. Find a tenant, sign the contract, receive the rent each month.
The one drawback is a lower income than tourists pay in high season. The advantages outweigh it: no guests to manage, no cleaning or marketing costs, and the tenant pays the utilities.
Holiday letting: you need a licence
This is stricter. To let a home legally to tourists in the Valencian Community, which includes the Costa Blanca, there are several steps:
- Get a town hall report confirming the property may be used as tourist accommodation (informe de compatibilidad urbanística). Without it, nothing else moves.
- Register the home in the tourism register and get its registration number (NRU). That number must appear in every listing: Airbnb, Booking, anywhere.
- Get the community's approval. Since 3 April 2025, a new holiday let in a building with an owners' community needs the community's express approval: three-fifths of the owners, holding three-fifths of the shares. Read the community's rules and recent minutes before you buy if you are buying to let to tourists.
- Arrange third-party liability insurance and an energy certificate.
The rules have tightened in recent years and inspections are happening across the country. Letting "quietly" without a licence is a bad idea: the fines are serious, and the platforms require the registration number in the listing.
How much tax on rental income
This is the key point for owners who live outside Spain. Non-resident income tax on rent depends on where you are tax resident.
Residents of the EU, Iceland, Norway or Liechtenstein, Irish owners among them, pay 19%, and may deduct expenses: mortgage interest, community fees, repairs, insurance. The tax is on the net income.
Residents of anywhere else, including the UK since Brexit, pay 24%, and here expenses cannot be deducted. The tax is on the full rent, with nothing taken off. It is a real difference, and it belongs in your return calculations from the start.
The tax is declared on form 210. Rental income used to be declared quarterly; later, owners were allowed to group it into a single annual return. The deadlines changed again by a Tax Agency order of 12 June 2026: the annual return is now filed between 1 and 20 April of the following year. The Tax Agency gives its own example: a Norwegian owner who lets a house in Alicante from July 2026 and chooses the annual return declares the whole year between 1 and 20 April 2027.
The transitional months of 2026 are a separate matter: income from April to September, if not grouped, follows the old quarterly deadlines. Check your own case with a gestoría.
Buying to let: what to check
If the plan is holiday letting, check two things before you buy: whether the community allows it, and whether the town hall will issue the compatibility report. A lovely flat in a good location can turn out unsuitable for tourists simply because of the building's rules.
And work out the return honestly: with 24% tax on the gross for UK owners, cleaning, platform fees and empty weeks between guests. Do not forget the owner's fixed costs either: community fees, IBI, the waste charge, insurance. They are all set out in running costs of a home in Spain. Sometimes a calm long-term let ends up more profitable than a busy holiday one.
We can help you judge whether a property suits letting and which kind of let pays better for you. How the purchase works is in buying a new build in Spain, and the taxes at purchase in taxes and costs when buying property in Spain.