Guides

What are the fines for renting without a tourist licence in Spain?

The inspector does not call first

In practice, a complaint starts it. Marbella has set no cap on licences, but since 2024 it checks whether the number is displayed on the platforms and follows up neighbour complaints.

The portal usually acts before the regulator does. It removes a listing with a missing or invalid number, the owner asks what happened, and the fine - when it arrives - lands on the agency.

It is not only the tourist licence

• {'Letting without registration in Andalusia - 2,001 € to 18,000 € (serious': 'Ley 13/2011 arts. 71.1 and 78.2)'}
• {'A second serious offence inside a year - 18,001 € to 150,000 € (very serious': 'arts. 72.10 and 78.3)'}
• A false or inaccurate declaration - registration cancelled, a year locked out (Decree-Law 1/2025)
• The 600,000 € ceiling - Ley de Turismo Sostenible, a bill in the Andalusian Parliament, not yet in force
• Guest register, RD 933/2021 - 100 € to 600,000 € under LO 4/2015
• Anti-money-laundering, Ley 10/2010 - its own penalty regime, for failing the duties even where no laundering occurred

The fine is not only the owner's

Agencies tend to read all of this as their clients' problem. Andalusian tourism law does not read it that way. Marketing a let that is not registered is an offence by the agency in its own right, under article 71.2. Same band, same 2,001 to 18,000 euros - on a file with your name on it.

Nor does it require intent. Article 73.1 makes you responsible even where the breach comes down to simply not having noticed. Article 73.2 makes the holder of a tourism activity answer for what third parties do when serving its clients, employed or not. "We did not know the licence had lapsed" describes the infringement rather than excusing it.

One provision rewards moving quickly. Article 79.1 lists, among the criteria for setting the size of a sanction, putting the irregularity right while the file is still open. At that point, showing the date a problem appeared and the date it was fixed is worth real money. That is a practical reason to keep dated evidence, not a tidy one.

Diligence counts

Faced with proceedings, the question is not only whether there was a breach but whether there was carelessness. Showing that your portfolio is checked continuously, with dated reports, puts you in a different position from not having looked.

It guarantees nothing - that is for a lawyer with the file in front of them. But it is the kind of evidence mitigation arguments are built on.

Sources

• Decree-Law 1/2025, of 24 February (Andalusia) — adds art. 38.4 to Ley 13/2011 - cancellation for a false declaration, a year without re-registering
• Ley 13/2011 del Turismo de Andalucía — the sanctions regime actually in force, in the consolidated text
• Royal Decree 933/2021, enforced under LO 4/2015
• Ley 10/2010 on the prevention of money laundering

Verified against the sources above on 2026-08-12. LicenceDesk is operational guidance, not legal advice.

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