Owners' associations and holiday lets: what changed with the 2025 reform

What Organic Law 1/2025 changed

Organic Law 1/2025, on the efficiency of the public justice service, amended the Horizontal Property Act (Ley de Propiedad Horizontal, LPH) in three ways that affect holiday lets. It came into force on 3 April 2025.

First, it added a paragraph 3 to article 7: an owner who wants to run a holiday let must first obtain the association's express approval. Second, it rewrote article 17.12, which sets the required majority. Third, it added a second additional provision for lets that were already operating.

The three-fifths majority and the 20% surcharge

A resolution to approve, restrict, impose conditions on or prohibit holiday lets needs the votes of three-fifths of all owners who, in turn, hold three-fifths of the ownership shares. This applies whether or not it amends the deed of constitution or the bylaws.

The same majority can set special service charges or a higher share of common costs for the holiday let, provided the increase does not exceed 20%.

Under the general LPH rule, absent owners who were properly summoned and informed of the resolution, and who do not object within 30 calendar days, count as votes in favour.

If your flat was already a holiday let before the reform

The new second additional provision of the LPH allows owners who were already running a holiday let before 3 April 2025, and had done so under the tourism rules, to carry on; in Andalusia, that means being on the Tourism Register. Article 17.12 also states expressly that the association's resolutions are not retroactive.

Keep your registration decision and any documents showing when the let started operating: they are your best evidence if a dispute arises.

The building's bylaws

Decree 28/2016 rules out tourist use for homes in buildings whose deed of constitution or bylaws expressly prohibit it. That is why it pays to read them before buying or proposing a holiday let.

Bylaws only bind third parties if they are entered in the Land Registry, so the property's Land Registry extract (nota simple) is the first check. Ask for recent minutes too: there may be resolutions that are not yet registered.

What happens if the association says no

If the association does not approve tourist use, or prohibits it, you cannot register a new holiday let in that building. In Andalusia, the responsible declaration includes a statement that the association has expressly authorised it, and the regional government asks for a certificate from the association's secretary or administrator.

If someone runs a holiday let without that approval, the president can demand that it stop and, with the association's authorisation, go to court. The judgment can order the activity to stop for good, award damages and bar the owner from using the property for up to three years. And if an essential statement in the responsible declaration is false, the regional government can cancel the registration and block a new application for a year.

If you believe a resolution breaches the law or the bylaws, you can challenge it in court: the general deadline is three months, extended to one year in those two cases.