I have a rental apartment in Andalusia & have rented it out for short rentals for over 30 years. This latest ‘joke’ (although it’s not very funny!) of obtaining a tourist licence is a bureaucratic nightmare. If it had been a fairly straightforward procedure then I would have gone along with it. The more I have investigated it, the more it feels like a ‘can of worms’.
You are supposed to be able to do the original registration & fill in your form online but I have been told that this then has to be presented at an office in Malaga. Someone else told me that you could just take it to the Town Hall but they don’t like this so they discourage it (& would probably refuse, knowing my luck).
Before my last visit to Spain in June 2016, I started my research on what I needed to do to comply. I then investigated further during the week that I was there. I got conflicting advice whichever way I turned.
I have done tourist lettings in the UK for over 30 years & comply with all legislation & safety regulations here. I manage my Spanish apartment to the same standards & I comply with all of the requirements.
Even just trying to do the first step of getting the certificate of habitation for my apartment was a pain. I went to my town hall in La Cala & requested it. They said they would e mail me when it arrived. I’ve heard nothing. I understand that there’s a problem with older properties. My research suggested all sorts of expensive actions that might be needed by me to rectify this.
Obviously, once registered, I would need to pay income tax in Spain on any income (profit?). I believe this has to be done 4 times a year & the tax paid online. Even my Spanish financial representative didn’t know what expenses could be offset against income.
I am going to Spain again in October 2016 & had originally planned to get everything done during this visit. However, I have been watching very carefully the various threads about this new tourist law. It seems to me that it is utter chaos.
In my personal opinion, I don’t think that the Spanish authorities actually want to grant any tourist licences. I think they just want to make it so difficult that people stop renting out their apartments/villas or just sell up.
My thoughts now are to just ‘sit tight & wait & see’.
Am I being a bit naive?
Any thoughts, opinions, suggestions etc would be very welcome.
I have been told that the basic requirement for registration is that you provide some kind of an online booking facility. So if you don’t have one you can skip the whole issue.
If the whole process of registering was straightforward then I’d be quite happy to do it. It seems to me that the authorities don’t want to help the process & are making it as difficult as possible. I feel that they just want people to stop renting out their properties or just sell up. It seems a bit short sighted as it will ultimately affect the Spanish economy.
I have been waiting for news from my local town hall as to whether they have found my licence of first occupation. I applied to them at the beginning of June. I am just about to chase them. Without this, I can’t even start the process. The research that I did online about what I have to do if they can’t find it is pretty horrible. I have owned my property for over 30 years & I know the licence was first issued. If this document isn’t easily obtained then I will think long & hard about proceeding.
I’m in Spain again for 9 days in October & I have no intention of ruining my holiday with having to run around to try to sort this out.
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