Banning tourist flats in a Spanish community of owners

Yes. Since 3 April 2025, a new tourist flat in Spain needs the owners' meeting's express, prior approval (LPH article 7.3), and approving, limiting, conditioning or banning it takes three fifths of all owners holding three fifths of the quotas (article 17.12). The same majority can raise that flat's share of costs by up to 20 %.

This cuts both ways for foreign owners. If you live in the building and are tired of wheeled suitcases at 3 a.m., the law now puts the decision in your meeting's hands. If you bought a flat on the coast planning to let it to tourists, you need your neighbours' yes before the first booking, whatever the regional licence says.

Can my community ban a tourist flat?

Yes, and it does not even need to act. Under article 7.3, added by Organic Law 1/2025, the owner must obtain the community's approval before starting. If nobody asks, or the meeting says no, the flat cannot open. The meeting can also approve it with conditions: a cap on the number of units, entrance rules, limits on the use of the pool or other shared areas.

The three-fifths majority itself is not new. Since March 2019, article 17.12 let the meeting limit or condition tourist lets by that majority. What 2025 added was the explicit power to approve or prohibit, and the requirement to get the community's yes first.

How the vote works

Three fifths are counted over all owners and all quotas, not just those present. Absent owners matter too: under article 17.8, an absent owner who was properly notified is counted as voting yes unless they object in writing to the secretary within 30 calendar days of being told the result. A vote that falls short on the night can reach three fifths a month later, and one that looked won can fail if enough absent owners object. For buildings where half the flats belong to owners abroad, the notification of the minutes is where the vote is really decided, so send it in a way that leaves proof of the date. Put the item expressly on the agenda and collect signed proxies beforehand.

Legal note: the resolution has no retroactive effect. It closes the door on future tourist flats; it does not remove those already operating legally.

Flats that were already operating

A new additional provision of the LPH (second additional provision) protects owners who were already letting to tourists before 3 April 2025 and had registered under their region's tourism rules: they may carry on under the conditions and time limits of those rules. A flat advertised without a licence or registration gained no such right, however long it has been running.

Up to 20 % more in fees

Article 17.12 also lets the meeting, by the same three fifths, set a special fee or raise a tourist flat's share of common costs by up to 20 %. The law says these resolutions are not retroactive; it does not say whether the surcharge can be applied from now on to flats that were already operating legally, so take advice before billing them.

Acting against a flat without approval

The president first demands, in writing and by a verifiable method such as a burofax, that the owner stop (articles 7.3 and 7.2). If the owner carries on, the meeting can authorise the president to bring a cessation action. The court can order the activity to stop as an interim measure and, in its judgment, award damages and even bar use of the flat for up to three years. Keep dated screenshots of the listings and the booking calendar: the activity has to be proved.

If the vote will be held online, check what makes a virtual owners' meeting valid; the demand to stop is signed by the president, so it is worth knowing how far the president's liability goes. Vecinly keeps the notice, the proxy register and the minutes in one place, with a record of who received the notice; see our page for international communities.

Information updated September 2026. This article is for information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. It refers to Spanish law.