Buying a house in Spain is popular and especially on the Costa del Sol. The beautiful surroundings with nice places and the wonderful climate make this region an interesting place to buy a property. Renting out your holiday home in this region can also be interesting. After all, it is a popular holiday spot that is easily accessible from all over Europe.

When considering renting out your future Spanish home, it is crucial to be well informed about local regulations, costs and taxes. From February 2024, the rules for renting out a holiday home on the Costa del Sol will be considerably stricter. This mainly concerns the regulations for holiday rentals, if you want to rent out the property for the long term, some things do not apply.

Below we describe what is needed to make your Spanish dream come true without any unpleasant surprises.

Registering your holiday home for holiday rental

Before renting out your home on the sunny Costa Del Sol, you must first register with the Junta de Andalucía. Registration of your holiday home is compulsory and must meet certain quality and safety standards.

Fire safety: Make sure your property is equipped with smoke detectors and a fire extinguisher.

Air conditioning: Málaga can get quite hot, so a working air conditioning system is essential in the summer months. During the winter months there should be a heater to heat the property. In addition, all rented rooms must have direct ventilation to the outside.

Comfort: Furniture should be of good quality and meet the expectations of your guests, as well as being sufficient for the number of guests you can accommodate.
Your kitchen should be equipped with the things you would expect to find in a kitchen. This includes a hotplate, fridge, microwave, coffee maker and toaster.

There are also legal requirements for beds. These include mattress thickness and surface area.

Area: The minimum area of your vacation rental must be greater than 25 square meters. The area you rent out must also be at least 14 square meters per person. With more than 5 guests, you also need to offer more than 1 bathroom to your guests. If you can have more than 8 guests staying in the property you even need to have 3 bathrooms. Finally, it is not allowed to have more than 4 people sleeping in 1 bedroom.

Hygiene: The property must be perfectly clean when new guests arrive. This is not only a matter of hospitality, but also of regulations.

Information: It is helpful to offer a book in your vacation rental with all the information your guests may need. Think of emergency numbers, registration numbers, manuals, local information and any rules of the complex in which you rent the property. You are required to offer this information to your tenants. You are also required to give your guests the opportunity to file a complaint. Consider a complaint form.

In addition to meeting these quality and safety standards, the vacation rental must also meet a number of other requirements before you may rent out the vacation rental.

Licencia de Occupacion: This is a document is the certificate of conformity. It is a confirmation that your property meets all standards with respect to occupancy.

Approval from owners association: In order to rent out your vacation home, you also need a confirmation from the owners association. It may be that it has been decided within a VVE that short-term rentals are not allowed and you may only rent out the property for longer periods.

Local rules: Also check whether vacation rental is allowed at all in the area where the property is located. In some areas this is not allowed; you can check with the municipality. When you buy a property, the real estate agent can inform you about this.

The above points are the main points/rules that your home must meet in order to be rented out. Be sure to check with your real estate agent or rental agency to make sure you meet all the requirements.

After meeting these requirements, you will receive a registration number that must be included in all communications and promotional materials. This is an important step to legally and successfully renting out your home.

Costs and taxes when renting out your property on the Costa de Sol

Local taxes
Paying taxes is not fun, but it is an essential part when you are going to rent out a vacation home on the Costa del Sol. It is therefore important to understand what taxes are involved in renting out your vacation home.

In Spain, owners must declare rental income. This is taxed at a flat rate of 19% for EU citizens, while non-EU citizens should consider a rate of 24%. However, it is possible to deduct certain expenses, such as maintenance, cleaning and utilities, provided they are strictly related to the period of rental.

Municipal taxes
In addition to income tax, you will also have to deal with the IBI (Impuesto sobre Bienes Inmuebles), a municipal tax collected annually. This depends on the cadastral value of the property and can vary by municipality.

Wanneer je een vakantiewoning koopt aan de Costa del Sol zijn er naast belastingen ook nog andere kosten waarmee je rekening moet houden:

Community fees / servicekosten
Wanneer je vakantiewoning onderdeel uitmaakt van een (bewaakte) gemeenschap of bestaat uit 1 gebouw is er waarschijnlijk een VVE. Aan deze VVE ben je maandelijks een vast bedrag kwijt aan servicekosten. Dit zijn kosten voor algemeen gebruik en (toekomstig) onderhoud aan het gebouw.