Landlords in the Spanish region of Valencia have found a loophole in the local law which allows them to rent out to tourists without having a licence if guests stay 11 nights or more.
A recent report in local newspaper Levante-EMV found that on Airbnb alone, “dozens” of homes located in residential apartment buildings in Valencia were available for tourists to rent under that condition that they stay a minimum of 11 nights.
The daily concluded that it didn’t matter in which area of the city the flats were located, on what floor they were on, or how much they cost, they all had the same minimum stay.
Since 2024, the regional government of Valencia has put a moratorium on issuing new tourist licences in its capital for apartments located in buildings of other homeowners and commercial spaces, in all neighbourhoods as well as in some surrounding towns.
More changes in the law from the Valencian government last year stated that in order to be granted a tourist licence, places in urban areas must also have their own separate entrance if located on the ground floor and be rented as a whole unit (no separate rooms). They also stated that renting out properties for more than 10 days to the same tenant is not allowed.
Example of Airbnb ad in Valencia requiring guests to stay a minimum of 11 days.
Decree Law 9/2024 was approved in August and updated the 2018 regulations on vacation rentals. Its objective, as the Valencian government stated, was to “improve the regulation” of tourist apartments and “offer legal certainty” to users and landlords.
“The proliferation of this type has led to its exponential and uncontrolled increase in certain areas, which determines the need to adopt urgent measures to curb a phenomenon that, if not acted upon immediately, can generate problems that worsen exponentially,” the Valencian government explained after the changes in 2024.
READ ALSO: Spain’s Valencia to limit tourist lets to only 2% per neighbourhood
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The key part of this law that’s now being used as a loophole is Article 65, which states that “tourist-use homes” are those that (among other conditions) “are provided under conditions of immediate availability, for tourist purposes, for a period of less than or equal to 10 days, computed continuously to the same tenant”.
This means that any property rented for periods longer than 10 days is excluded from the tourist rental category, and does not require a licence.
Perhaps inadvertently, it’s worked out to be a legal loophole that allows landlords to rent out to tourists without needing to apply for a tourist licence from authorities, and thus getting around the law.
Following the news in the local press, the Federation of Neighbourhood Associations of Valencia (FAAVV) has demanded that the regulations be changed as soon as possible.
“Instead of proposing clear limits on the activity and assuming responsibility for inspections and sanctions, they create a host of ambiguous and contradictory assumptions,” the FAAVV complained.
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Those properties rented out for longer than 10 days fall into the category of seasonal or temporary rentals. According to the Urban Lease Law (LAU), these are temporary rentals are not intended to cover “the tenant’s permanent housing needs”.
Spain is currently in the process of trying to limit temporary rentals to stop landlords getting around the laws for long-term tenants.
The hope is that legislative changes could put more properties back on the market via several methods, including forcing landlords to register all short-term lets and rooms, and demanding tenants and landlords provide concrete reasons for shorter lets such as temporary job contracts and enrolment contracts for students.
READ ALSO: How Spain’s new temporary contract rules make it hard for foreigners to rent
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The country is currently in the throes of one of its worst housing crises, with many Spaniards not being able to access accommodation due to soaring rents, ever-increasing house prices and a general lack of housing stock on the market.
According to the Bank of Spain, there is a deficit of around 600,000 homes, even though there are more than 3 million empty properties across the country.
The issue has been blamed on many factors, from foreigners buying up holiday homes and the lack of social housing to low wages, greedy landlords and of course tourist rentals.
For several years now, cities and regions across Spain have been trying to curb the rising number of tourist rentals in order to force more homes back on the market for locals and decrease the numbers of visitors in general. Each region, and even each city, has its own laws on whether properties can be granted a tourist licence or not.
Local police in Valencia saw a seven-fold increase in the number of illegal tourist apartments reported in 2024.
