Tourist Licence

There have been no recent changes to the rules in the last couple of years.  You will need to ensure that the community on which you buy has not ruled that new licenses cannot be issued - this can be checked by your solicitor (do not take the estate agents word for it).  You will also need to check that the property meets the basic requirements regarding room sizes and ventilation (again ask your solicitor to check, don't rely on the estate agent to know).  Things like kitchen extractor fan, smoke dectectors and fire extinguishers are easy to add but altering a bathroom is not easy or cheap.

Three stages, 1. obtain a Certificate of Compatibility from the Town Hall.  I am not aware of any particular delays or propblems with this in La Mata but your solicitor should be aware of the current timescales.  2. Once you have the certificate you can apply to the office of tourism in Alicante for the actual License.  You should be able to use the energy certificate used for the sale of the property as that will be within date (they last 10 years).  The License can take a few weeks to be issued but there is currently no major backlog.  3. Once you have your License you need to  a) buy the official plaque, to be displayed by the main entrance either outside or inside,  b) buy the official complaints forms and sign about the forms,  c) make an appointment to attend the local Guardia Civil offices to obtain log-in details for your property to register the passport details of all guests age 16 years or over.

If you are a non-resident then you need to file a quarterly tax return in Spain and pay tax on your rentals immediately.  For EU-residents that is 19% after a few allowable deductions, for non-EU residents it is 24% on the gross rental.  (If you are a Spanish resident then you file an annual tax return.)

You are required to include your License number in all forms of advertising (inc social media).

If you are able to find a property with an existing License then that is transferable to you, the new owner.

If you do a search on Tourist Licenses on this forum you will find a lot of information.

Thank you Davebev1 very informative and helpful.

Hi, as Dave has said above, you need to ensure the property meets the regulations and will need someone who can inspect and sign the property off. Best to get a solicitor to do the application for you but ours took over 8 moths to be issued. You then have to go in person to the police station to register the license. Then you need to purchase and dislpay a plaque.

I understand that you also need to have forms available in the apartment as part of rental compliance - forms called 'Hoja de reclamation' which can be picked up form Newsagents.