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Tourist licence in Andalusia (VUT)
Yes. Any property let to tourists in Andalusia must be registered with the Registro de Turismo de Andalucía before you advertise it, and the number must appear in every listing. Codes look like VUT/MA/102186. Letting without registration is a serious infringement, fined at 2,001 to 18,000 euros, and a false declaration also cancels the registration for a year.
What the number looks like
The format is VUT/XX/NNNNNN, where XX is the province: MA Málaga, SE Sevilla, CA Cádiz, GR Granada, AL Almería, CO Córdoba, HU Huelva, JA Jaén. VUT stands for vivienda de uso turístico - a tourist-use dwelling. VFT is the older form of the same regime, and VTAR covers rural tourist accommodation.
It is the only Spanish format that carries the province between slashes, which makes it unambiguous. A bare VUT number without slashes does not identify a region at all. Madrid, Castilla y León, Cantabria, Castilla-La Mancha, Galicia and Murcia use the same three letters.
What you actually have to do
The community of owners is what most surprises foreign owners, and it comes up twice. At registration you declare that the statutes do not prohibit tourist letting - the absence of a ban, not a vote in favour. Separately, under the Ley de Propiedad Horizontal (the law on shared buildings), a community can block the activity by a three-fifths majority. In Sevilla, around 42% have already done so.
- Register with the RTA by responsible declaration (a sworn statement) before you advertise (Decree 28/2016, art. 9)
- Get the municipal urban-compatibility declaration (Decree 31/2024)
- Declare that the title and the community statutes do not prohibit the activity (Decree 31/2024)
- Meet the technical standards - air conditioning, heating, first-aid kit, complaint forms
- Display the registration number in every advertisement, on every portal
What the agency is liable for
If you market the property rather than own it, the registration is your exposure too. Article 71.2 of Ley 13/2011 makes marketing an unregistered let a serious infringement by the agency on its own. Article 73.1 makes you responsible even where the breach comes down to simply not noticing.
Article 30.4 makes this urgent rather than theoretical. Advertising an unregistered property is already the offence. The listing is the exposure - no guest has to arrive for the breach to exist.
Where you can no longer register
Málaga froze new registrations for three years from July 2026, across 43 neighbourhoods where tourist housing exceeds 8% of the housing stock. The frozen zones include the centre, Plaza de la Merced, Pedregalejo, El Palo, La Malagueta and Huelin.
Marbella has no cap, but it has stepped up inspections since 2024 and checks whether the number is displayed on the platforms. A property you cannot re-register, if the licence ever lapses, is worth less than one you can.
Does the annulled national register change this?
No. The Supreme Court struck down Spain's single national rental register in May 2026. Andalusian registration and municipal rules are unaffected, and so is the separate duty to report guests through SES.HOSPEDAJES.
Check a licence number
Free, no sign-up, nothing stored. Try VUT/MA/102186.
Sources
- Decree 28/2016, of 2 February, on homes for tourist use
- Decree 31/2024, of 29 January
- Decree-Law 1/2025, of 24 February — adds art. 38.4 to Ley 13/2011 - cancellation for a false declaration, then a year before you can re-register
- Ley 13/2011 del Turismo de Andalucía, arts. 71, 72 and 78 — the sanctions in force - minor up to 2,000, serious 2,001-18,000, very serious 18,001-150,000
- Málaga PGOU amendment (modificación puntual 28), BOP of 24 July 2026 — the three-year moratorium - the bulletin keeps no permanent link per notice, so search by that date
- Registro de Turismo de Andalucía (OpenRTA), open data CC BY 4.0
Verified against the sources above on 2026-08-12. LicenceDesk is operational guidance, not legal advice.
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