If you have a property in the south of Spain that you don't live in all year round, there is a great opportunity to earn extra money by renting out your property. As well as making another family happy to live in your beautiful Spanish home, you don't have to worry about your property being empty when you're not there.
However before you start looking for properties for sale on the Costa del Sol, there are several things you need to be aware of.
First and foremost, there are tax issues, but also all the administrative aspects of renting out your property. You can read more about the costs of owning a home in the south of Spain here.
Finally, you need to prepare yourself mentally for the fact that there will be strangers living in your home. Here you also need to take care of your insurance and give them a beautiful and clean experience in your home. And you need to avoid the thought that something might go wrong.
We want to help you with the most necessary steps when renting out your home for the first time. It's not nearly as difficult as you might think.
Registering your property and important things to remember
If you rent out your property short term to tourists in Andalusia, it must be registered as a holiday home (vivienda de uso turístico) in the Andalusian Tourism Register. You do this by submitting a declaration (declaración responsable) online to the regional government, the Junta de Andalucía, using a digital certificate.
The rules have become stricter in recent years. Since April 2025, a new holiday rental in a building with an owners' association requires the association's express approval by three fifths of the owners, and municipalities can limit the number of holiday homes and suspend new ones for up to three years. In Málaga city, new holiday homes have been suspended in the whole municipality since August 2025.
There are also a few requirements that the property must meet. The kitchen must have all the necessary utensils. This means a working oven, a fridge, a hotplate, a kettle, various utensils and not least cups, plates and cutlery.
In addition, clean bed linen and towels should be ready for guests when they arrive. Also make sure you have an instruction manual for all electronic equipment in your home. There's no guarantee that others will know how your state-of-the-art TV works or how to turn on the air conditioner.
It is very important to have a first aid kit and a fire extinguisher in the house. This is for obvious safety reasons. You never know if something might catch fire. It could be anything from a drought to forgetting to turn off a light.
That's why it's so important to have a fire extinguisher in the house. At the same time, it's also essential to have a first aid kit in case you get hurt. It's important to make sure your first aid kit is always up to date when you return to your home.
Your home should also have natural lighting in all bedrooms, proper ventilation and you should make sure you know if there are stairs and/or a lift. It's important for your customers to know if it's handicapped or elderly friendly.
Cooling in all bedrooms and in the living room is also a requirement if you rent your home out between May and August, and heating if you rent it out between December and March.
Remember to ask for permission first
Your holiday home must comply with local planning rules, and some towns also require their own licence or declaration. There should also be clear contact details for you, so that your tenants can always get hold of you in case of complications.
There should also be a compulsory complaints book in your home so that your tenants can write down what they have been unhappy about.
Once your holiday home meets the above requirements, you can submit the declaration and start renting it out.
When you have submitted the declaration, you can download the decision registering your home, with its registration code, for example VUT/MA/12345 in Málaga province. The number you receive when you submit it is only the reference number of your declaration, not the registration code.
Nowadays, most people find their holiday accommodation online, so it's a good idea to advertise your accommodation mainly there. Remember that the registration code must be shown in all your adverts, including on the booking websites.
It is compulsory to register your accommodation if you are not renting for a long period of time with the same tenant.
These rules are those that apply to ordinary landlords, and other types of holiday accommodation have several different and stricter requirements for the housing landlord.
If you have bought a property on Costa del Sol and need help with the permits, our real estate agents will be happy to guide you further in the process.
Insurance
When renting out your property, we recommend that you get good housing insurance.
You never know if your tenants will break something, and it would be a shame to be left with the bill. At the same time, you can't know if your home will be robbed. Fortunately, this is rare, but it's always good to be prepared.
In Spain, most home insurance costs between €200 and €1500 a year.
It is also important to make good agreements with your neighbors. Make sure they have a key so they can let themselves in if they see anything suspicious.
It's also a good idea for them to have a key in case your tenants lose the key you gave them. Then they can always be let in by the neighbor and borrow the neighbor’s key until they must go home.
When your tenants need to be registered
Anyone who rents out holiday accommodation, including private owners, must register with the Spanish Ministry of the Interior as an accommodation provider and send it details of their bookings and guests.
If you rent out your accommodation through an agency, they will usually take care of this, but if you rent it out privately, you must do it yourself. The details must be sent immediately, and at the latest within 24 hours, both when the booking is made (or cancelled) and when the guests arrive.
This is done online through the Ministry's SES.HOSPEDAJES service, which has replaced the old registration at the police station.
In SES.HOSPEDAJES, you record details such as the guests' names, their passport or ID numbers and how long they intend to stay in your accommodation.
The tax aspect
When you rent out your home, there is of course tax on the income you receive from renting out your property.
If you are resident in Spain, tax is paid on the profit you make from renting out your property. This is done through the Spanish tax return, which must be filed annually.
The tax is treated in the same way as general salary income, and you are taxed according to Spain's tax rules.
You report what you have earned to the Spanish tax authorities.
In the Spanish tax return, you can deduct water, owners' association fees, insurance and electricity, which your tenants can use.
The commission paid to the agency, if you have one, and not least the advertising, can also be deducted from your tax return.
If you are not resident in Spain, you pay non-resident income tax on the rent and declare it on form 210. Rent earned from October 2026 onwards is declared once a year, between 1 and 20 April of the following year. If you live in another EU country or in Iceland, Norway or Liechtenstein, the tax is 19%, and you can deduct expenses that are directly related to the rental. If you live anywhere else, including the UK, the tax is 24% of the full rent, with no deductions.
As a non-resident, you pay tax on your Spanish property whether you rent it out or not. For the days when it is not rented out, you pay tax on an imputed income based on the property's cadastral value.
The tax on the imputed income is declared once a year: for 2025 by 31 December 2026, and for 2026 and later years between 1 April and 31 December of the following year. The whole process can seem advanced at first, especially when you don't necessarily know the language.
If you are unsure, you can always contact a lawyer who can help you through the whole process and translate for you.