By Raymundo Larraín Nesbitt
Lawyer and Director of Larraín Nesbitt Lawyers
31st of October 2017
In my article on Decree 28/2016, which details the requirements to register oneself before Andalusia’s Tourism Registry as a holiday home, I made it clear that the most important requirement was to attain a Licence of First Occupation. I also wrote a specific blog post last July warning landlords not to register before the ATR unless they were fully compliant least they risk being fined at least two thousand euros on non-compliance.
A Licence of First Occupation (LFO, for short) is an administrative licence issued by a town hall, where the property is located, and certifies the development is in full compliance with the Building Licence (BL) and all associated Planning laws.
Despite these repeated warnings, hundreds of landlords ploughed ahead and self-registered themselves to take advantage of the summer season or else used non-qualified acquaintances to register them (in exchange of a fee). The idea was that they could register provisionally and rent the properties out and subsequently receive from the ATR their rental number in the following weeks or months despite not being fully compliant. Almost 30,000 properties have been registered so far in Andalusia.
Many landlords registered without using a lawyer, not fully understanding the legal consequences of their own actions and as a result are being landed with €2,001 fines, at the least. Fines in Andalusia range from €2,000 up to €150,000.
All along September and October landlords have been receiving these fines (see blog post photo) in the region of Andalusia from the ATR informing them a case had been brought against them and classified as a serious breach.
Failure to pay these fines will result in the ATR placing a charge against your property. There is only a 10-day deadline to appeal a fine. You need to hire a lawyer to lodge an appeal.
What we can glean from the above is:
- You should apply for a touristic rental licence in Andalusia and declare and pay your rental income (in Spain) if you do not want to be heavily fined by the Authorities.
- Do NOT register before Andalusia’s Tourism Registry unless you are fully compliant with the requirements set out in Decree 28/2016.
- I strongly advise would-be holiday home landlords to register only using the services of a law firm such as ours which fully understands what’s being asked and avoid the client humongous fines and court cases. You should also hire a law firm to deal with the taxation side of things, applying for landlord tax relief which significantly reduces your taxable base (on average by 30 to 40%). More information on this service: Holiday Rental Accounting Service (HRAS).
Larraín Nesbitt Lawyers is a law firm specialized in conveyancing, taxation, litigation and inheritance. 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.
Legal services Larraín Nesbitt Lawyers can offer you
Holiday home-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
- 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
- Community of Owners in Madrid to ban Holiday Rentals – 29th of June 2017
- Holiday Home Taxation in Spain – 8th of July 2017
- How to inspect an off-plan property overseas – Interview with The Sunday Times. July 2017
- Holiday Rentals in Andalusia Made Easy – 3rd July 2017
- Holiday-home lettings: Do NOT register with Andalusia’s Tourism Registry unless you are fully compliant – 21st of July 2017
- New Balearics Holiday Rental Law – 8th of September 2017
- Seasonal lets: an alternative to holiday rentals – 8th October 2017
- Let-to-buy contracts: do not forget to add a clause forbidding sublets! – 20th October 2017
- Andalusia starts fining holiday home landlords – 31st October 2017
Please note the information provided in this blog post is of general interest only and is not to be construed or intended as substitute for professional legal advice. This article may be posted freely in websites or other social media so long as the author is duly credited. Plagiarizing, whether in whole or in part, this article without crediting the author may result in criminal prosecution. VOV.
2.017 © Raymundo Larraín Nesbitt. All rights reserved.