Holiday-home lettings: Do NOT register with Andalusia's Tourism Registry unless you are fully compliant

Raymundo Larraín Nesbitt, July, 21. 2017

Lawyer Raymond Nesbitt admonishes on the legal consequences (read substantial fines) of self-registering your holiday-home letting before the ATR without being fully compliant.

By Raymundo Larraín Nesbitt
Lawyer – Abogado
21^st of July 2017

More and more I’m receiving complaints from landlords with holiday rentals in the region of Andalusia who have self-registered before Andalusia’s Tourism Registry (ATR) without being fully compliant. Most of them are going to be landed with stiff fines as I explain below. This has prompted me to write a gentle reminder to all landlords on the legal consequences of registering a property that is not fully compliant in the region of Andalusia.

Three weeks ago, the II Congress of Tourism of the Costa del Sol was held at Marbella. In this congress, the head of the ATR made it clear that when you register your holiday rental in Andalusia you are held responsible and liable for your own self-declaration. It works similar to self-certified mortgages; the person that makes the statement becomes personally liable and will be held accountable of the form he fills in as he declares he is fully compliant on enrolling his property (which frequently is not the case!). The ATRs Director confirmed they had already fined 60 properties in Malaga province alone and hundreds more were in the pipeline on failing to register the properties because they were not fully compliant.

A typical example of this (real case) is a landlord who has not attained a Licence of First Occupation (or equivalent document) for his property but does not want to miss out on the summer letting season. So, what he does is to register 'provisionally' his property on the ATR in the hope of attaining a LFO further down the line (months or even a year after). Put simply, there is no ‘provisional’ registration; or you are in or you are out, period. There is no in-between.

Unbeknownst to landlords, the first thing the ATR checks is if a property has been issued with a LFO by its town hall. The landlord will be fined because, under his own personal responsibility, he declared to be fully compliant when it was simply not the case. He will be landed a fine of minimum €2,000 for this. To give a better idea of what enrolling before the ATR entails, it´s like walking up to a police station and self-admitting to a felony yet acting surprised when punishment is administered! It is basically the same case.

Bottom line, do NOT register your property as a holiday rental before Andalusia’s Tourism Registry unless you fully meet all the law’s requirements (foremost having a LFO) – otherwise you risk being fined!

More details on registration requirements in my blog post: Holiday Rentals in Andalusia Made Easy.

If you are uncertain on whether you fulfil the requirements, contact us free of compromise.

Our law firm offers full registration services of holiday rentals for : POA.

We also offer a comprehensive Holiday Rentals Accounting Service.

Larraín Nesbitt Lawyers, small on fees, big on service.

Larraín Nesbitt Lawyers is a law firm specialized in inheritance, conveyancing, taxation and litigation. We will be very pleased to discuss your matter with you. You can contact us by e-mail at info@larrainnesbitt.com, by telephone on (+34) 952 19 22 88 or by completing our contact form.

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Holiday-home letting related articles

Renting in Spain: Top Ten Mistakes – 8th of June 2011
Let-to-Buy in Spain: The Smart Choice – 8th of April 2012
Letting in Spain: The Safe Way – 10th of October 2012
New Measures to Bolster Spain’s Ailing Rental Market – 8th of July 2013
Tenant Eviction in Spain – 8th of June 2014
Holiday Rental Laws in Spain – 8th of March 2015
House Hunting in Spain – Interview with The New York Times. June 2015
Taxes on Buying Spanish Property – 8th July 2015
Non-Resident Taxes in Spain – 8th December 2015
Resurgent Spain: Málaga Sees Strong Sales – Interview with Mansion Global (The Wall Street Journal). December 2015
Holiday Rental Laws in Andalusia (Decree 28/2016) – 8th of February 2016
Decree 20/2002: Andalusia’s Holiday Rural Rental Decree – 8th of April 2016
Urban Rental Law in Spain – Spain's Tenancy Act – 8th May 2016
Buying Property in Spain – 10 Reasons to Hire a Lawyer – 8th November 2016
Renting in Spain - Landlord´s Taxation – 8th of January 2017
Renting in Spain: Non-Resident Landlord's Rental Tax Relief – 14th of January 2017
Buying Property in Spain from a Private Seller (Resale Property) – 21st of February 2017
Buying Property in Spain from a Developer (Off-Plan Property) – 8^th March 2017
NIE Number Explained – 8th May 2017
Community of Owners in Madrid to bar Holiday Rentals – 29th June 2017
Holiday Rental Home Taxation in Spain – 8th July 2017
Holiday Rentals in Andalusia Made Easy – 3^rd July 2017
How to inspect an off-plan property overseas – Interview with The Sunday Times. July 2017
Holiday-home lettings: Do NOT register with Andalusia's Tourism Registry unless you are fully compliant – 21^st of July 2017

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