Tourist rental: you need community authorization if your license is after April 3, 2025

Key data

If you have or want to start a short-term tourist rental, there is one date that changes everything: April 3, 2025. From that day on, LO 1/2025 requires that any property owner who submits their tourist responsible declaration must first obtain express authorization from their homeowners association, with the favorable vote of at least 3/5 of the property owners.

The Resolution of February 27, 2026 from the General Directorate of Legal Security and Public Faith confirms this with a real case: the property registrar of Valencia no. 6 acted correctly by suspending the assignment of the NRUA to a property owner whose responsible declaration to the Valencian Tourism Registry was submitted on April 11, 2025, eight days after the legal threshold. The property owner's appeal was dismissed.

What does this regulation establish?

LO 1/2025, in force since April 3, 2025, introduced a new requirement for short-term tourist rental: the property owner must have express authorization from the homeowners association before starting the activity, if their tourist enabling title (the responsible declaration) is after that date.

The mechanism works like this:

• The property owner submits the responsible declaration to the Tourism Registry of their autonomous community.
• Requests the Property Registry to assign the Unique Rental Registration Number (NRUA).
• The registrar verifies whether the date of the enabling title is before or after April 3, 2025.
• If it is after, they check if there is authorization from the homeowners association with a majority of 3/5. If not, they suspend the assignment of the NRUA.
• Without NRUA, the property cannot be offered on digital platforms for short-term rental.

The resolution makes clear that property registrars are competent to verify these requirements, not just tourism bodies. It is a double control: tourism and registry.

Economic and operational impact

The impact is direct and blocks the business from day one. Without the NRUA, the property owner cannot publish their property on platforms like Airbnb, Booking or similar, which are required to demand that number to register an advertisement. This means zero income until the situation is resolved.

The operational costs of obtaining authorization from the community include:

• Calling an extraordinary meeting of property owners (administration costs and notifications).
• Waiting time until the meeting is held, which can take weeks or months depending on the community's bylaws.
• Risk of rejection: if the community votes against or the 3/5 majority is not reached, the property owner cannot start the tourist activity.
• Possible legal advisory fees to manage the process before the community and the Property Registry.

The case resolved by the General Directorate demonstrates that appealing the suspension of the NRUA before the registry body itself is not a viable way out if the requirement for community authorization has not been met: the appeal was dismissed.

Who does it affect?

• Property owners in horizontal property regime who want to start short-term tourist rental with responsible declaration submitted from April 3, 2025 onwards.
• Real estate investors who have acquired properties for tourist rental and do not have a license prior to that date.
• Homeowners associations that will have to manage and vote on these authorization requests.
• Property managers who advise communities and property owners on the correct procedure.
• Digital rental platforms that must verify the NRUA before publishing advertisements.
• Property registrars, who have express competence to verify compliance before assigning the NRUA.

Practical example

The case itself resolved in the Resolution of February 27, 2026 is the most illustrative example:

A property owner in Valencia submits their responsible declaration to the Valencian Tourism Registry on April 11, 2025. They request the Property Registry of Valencia no. 6 to assign the NRUA so they can advertise their property on short-term rental platforms.

The registrar checks the date of the enabling title: it is 8 days after the April 3, 2025 threshold set by LO 1/2025. Since there is no record of authorization from the homeowners association with a majority of 3/5, they suspend the assignment of the NRUA. The property owner appeals to the General Directorate of Legal Security and Public Faith. The resolution, issued on February 27, 2026, confirms the registrar's action and dismisses the appeal.

Result: the property owner cannot advertise on any digital platform until they obtain authorization from their community with the favorable vote of 3/5 of the property owners.

What should property owners do now?

1. Verify the date of your tourist responsible declaration. If it is before April 3, 2025, you do not need community authorization for the NRUA. If it is after, you do.
2. Consult your homeowners association bylaws. Check if there is already any clause that prohibits or limits tourist rental, and what is the procedure for calling a meeting.
3. Request the calling of an extraordinary meeting to vote on the authorization of tourist rental. You need the favorable vote of at least 3/5 of the property owners.
4. Document the meeting agreement and present it along with your NRUA request to the Property Registry. Without that document, the registrar will suspend the assignment.
5. Do not submit the tourist responsible declaration without first obtaining community authorization. The order matters: first the community, then the Tourism Registry, then the NRUA.
6. Do not appeal the suspension of the NRUA if you do not have authorization. The General Directorate's resolution confirms that the appeal will not succeed if the requirement has not been met.

Official source

View complete regulation in official source

Notice: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For specific decisions, consult a qualified professional. Source: https://www.boe.es/diario_boe/txt.php?id=BOE-A-2026-14960