Where can you no longer register a new holiday let in Spain?
Málaga froze new holiday-let registrations for three years from July 2026, across 43 neighbourhoods where tourist housing exceeds 8% of the housing stock. Barcelona is moving to end HUT (tourist-flat) licences entirely. A moratorium does not cancel existing licences, but it stops you re-registering one that lapses.
What Málaga did
Málaga changed its city plan, the PGOU. The amendment came out in the provincial bulletin on 24 July 2026. It suspends new registrations for three years across 43 neighbourhoods, including the centre, Plaza de la Merced, Pedregalejo, El Palo, La Malagueta and Huelin. Tourist flats in residential zones also lose their automatic approval.
Why this is a valuation question, not paperwork
A property you cannot re-register is worth less than one you can. If the licence lapses inside a frozen zone, there is no way back until the moratorium ends. A lapse can come from a deregistration, a mishandled change of owner, or a vote by the community.
For an owner or an agency, that turns an admin task into an asset question. Learn which parts of your portfolio sit inside a restricted zone before the problem arises, not after.
It is not only the town hall
Since 2025, a community of owners can block holiday letting with a three-fifths majority vote. In Sevilla, around 42% of communities have already done so. The licence stays valid, but you lose the right to use it.
Check a licence number
Free, no sign-up, nothing stored. Try VUT/MA/102186.
Sources
- Málaga PGOU amendment (modificación puntual 28), BOP of 24 July 2026 — the bulletin keeps no permanent link per notice, so search it by that date
- Decree-Law 1/2025, of 24 February (Andalusia) — the power a town hall uses to suspend tourist licences while it revises its planning
- Ley 49/1960 de Propiedad Horizontal, art. 17.12 — the three-fifths majority rule behind the Sevilla figure
Verified against the sources above on 2026-08-12. LicenceDesk is operational guidance, not legal advice.
Related
- Can my community of owners block holiday letting? — Yes. Since 2025, a Spanish community of owners can block tourist letting under the Horizontal Property Law (L…
- Holiday-let saturation and resale value — A building with many registered holiday lets is not an illegal building. It is a valuation fact: the Horizont…
- Tourist licence in Andalusia (VUT) — Yes. Any property let to tourists in Andalusia must be registered with the Registro de Turismo de Andalucía b…
- The 2026 tourist-flat inspection surge — Yes, measurably. Madrid went from 481 to 588 inspection actions between 2024 and 2025, with accumulated fines…