Holiday lets in Spain: what changes after the Supreme Court ruling

You no longer need Spain's national Registro Único de Arrendamientos number to list your Spanish flat on Airbnb or Booking. The Third Chamber of the Tribunal Supremo, in ruling 620/2026 of 19 May 2026, struck down the part of Real Decreto 1312/2024 that created it. If you own a home in Spain and let it by the night or for short stays from Italy, the ruling removes one step. Every other step stays.

What the Supreme Court struck down

The challenge came from the Generalitat Valenciana, and the court agreed with it in part: the State has no power to create a national register that overlaps with the tourist registers each autonomous community already runs. The operative part, published in the BOE on 8 June 2026, annuls articles 5, 8, 9 and 10 of the decree, article 12 letters b) and c), and every other reference to the single register.

In practice, the duty to enter the property in the Registro de la Propiedad (land registry) to obtain a number that platforms had to show on every listing is gone. That duty, in force since 1 July 2025, covered both tourist lets and de temporada (seasonal) lets. Further rulings in the same direction followed the May judgment.

What still stands

The court dismissed the challenge on everything else. The Ventanilla Única Digital de Arrendamientos survives: it is the channel through which platforms send listing and stay data to the authorities, under Regulation (EU) 2024/1028. Your rentals stay visible to the tax office and to your region, even without the national number.

Above all, regional rules still stand. To let a home to tourists you need the registration or declaración responsable (sworn notice) your autonomous community requires: Andalusia, the Valencian Community, the Canary Islands and the Balearics each run their own register with their own conditions, and many town halls add zoning limits on top. The number that matters on your listing is the regional one.

Guest registration does not change either: Real Decreto 933/2021 requires you to report every guest's details through the Interior Ministry's SES.Hospedajes platform.

Your building can say no

The ruling does not touch this rule, and in a flat inside a building it is the one that weighs most. Since 3 April 2025, Ley Orgánica 1/2025 has added a paragraph 3 to article 7 of the Ley de Propiedad Horizontal (Spain's condominium law): anyone who wants to use their home for tourist lets needs the express prior approval of the comunidad de propietarios (owners' association).

Under article 17.12, that resolution needs the votes of three fifths of the owners, who must also hold three fifths of the shares. The same majority can limit or ban the activity, and raise your share of common charges by up to 20%. If you let without approval, the association's president can demand that you stop at once and take you to court.

There is a safeguard for those already up and running. The law's new second additional provision lets owners carry on if they were letting before 3 April 2025 and had already complied with the regional tourism rules. Association resolutions also have no retroactive effect. If you bought in 2025 or 2026 planning tourist lets, the first documents to read are the association's bylaws and minutes, even before the licence.

What you file in Spain as a non-resident

If you are tax resident in Italy, your rent from the Spanish home is taxed in Spain under the Impuesto sobre la Renta de No Residentes (non-resident income tax, IRNR), on modelo 210. The rate is 19% for EU residents, and you can deduct expenses linked to the letting: association fees, IBI (local property tax), insurance, utilities, repairs, depreciation.

The calendar has changed. For rent accrued from October 2026, the Agencia Tributaria sets a single window: 1 to 20 April of the following year. So rent received between October and December 2026 is filed in April 2027, whether you group the year's income or file each item separately. Up to September 2026 the old calendar applies.

Empty months count too. For them you declare renta imputada (deemed income): a share of the cadastral value (2%, or 1.1% if the value was revised in the last ten years), pro rata to the days not let. For deemed income from 2026 onwards, the window runs from 1 April to 31 December of the following year.

And what you file in Italy

As an Italian resident you are taxed on worldwide income, so the Spanish rent goes into your Italian return too. Article 70(2) of the TUIR (Italy's income tax code) says foreign property counts at the net amount resulting from the foreign State's assessment, which means the base calculated in Spain. Tax paid in Spain comes back as a credit under article 165 of the TUIR and the Italy-Spain double taxation treaty.

The practical upshot: a mistake in the Spanish filing carries over into the Italian one. Both returns have to tell the same story.

What to check

• Regional licence: registration in your region's tourist register, valid, with its number on the listing.
• Owners' association: a three-fifths approval if you started after 3 April 2025, or proof that you were already letting before.
• Guests: every stay reported on SES.Hospedajes.
• Spanish tax office: modelo 210 for the rent, with the new April window, and for deemed income on empty months.
• Italian tax office: the Spanish income in your return, with the credit for tax paid in Spain.

If you have any doubts, Riondato & Partners is here to help

For over 45 years Riondato & Partners has worked with Italian and Spanish clients on property on both sides of the Mediterranean. If you own a home in Spain and want to let it to tourists or for short stays with your paperwork in order, get in touch: we will go through the licence, the owners' association and both tax returns with you.

Sources

• Ruling of 19 May 2026 by the Third Chamber of the Tribunal Supremo on Real Decreto 1312/2024, BOE of 8 June 2026
• Tribunal Supremo, press release on the annulment of the single register for short-term rentals
• Ley Orgánica 1/2025, fourth final provision: amendment of the Ley de Propiedad Horizontal, BOE
• Agencia Tributaria, modelo 210: filing deadlines
• Article 70 of the TUIR, income from property located abroad