Wednesday, December 22, 2021

Residential or Tourist; what is the difference?

Also in Spain, land has a finality or destination. Just as with us one has agricultural land, natural area, industrial land, building land, ...it is the same in Spain.

Residential land has the ultimate purpose of (permanent) habitation or second residence. This does not mean that it cannot be rented out; on the contrary, it is perfectly possible to rent on a long-term basis. For short-term rentals (for example, a few days or weeks), one must apply for a (tourist) permit. The method of application and conditions differ between autonomous regions.

For example, in a zone with residential character, a hotel (tourist destination) will not get a permit.

Land with tourist destination is usually just a little cheaper (depending on the region) because of the restrictions associated with this finality. This land serves to promote tourism, which is an important source of income in Spain.

It happens that apartments are sometimes built on this land, but they must be rented out for at least 6 months a year. This means that the owner himself is not allowed to rent, but this has to be done by the operator of the whole community.

Usually these are (well-known) hotel chains.

Since you must rent for at least 6 months, permanent registration is not possible.

Sometimes these formulas can be interesting because you can get a certain (carefree) return in exchange for giving up a certain autonomy, but this must be done on a case-by-case basis.

On the other hand, certain restrictions such as personalizing your property are not allowed in order to maintain uniformity. A personal choice, but this way you are already well informed.

Canary Islands tourist accommodation

In the Canary Islands, the tourist use of housing is regulated by the regulation on vacation homes approved in Decree 113/2015, although there is a law regulating vacation homes that would restrict their use.

According to the decree currently in force, tourist houses in the Canary Islands (as long as the community of owners allows it) must wear a badge with the registration number in the General Tourist Registry.