New obligations for short term rentals
Royal Decree 1312/2024, published in the Official State Bulletin 24/12/2024, regulates the procedure for the Single Registry of Leases and creates the Digital One-Stop Shop for Leases for the collection and exchange of data relating to short-term accommodation rental services.
This Royal Decree came into force on the 2nd of January 2025, with its provisions coming into effect on the 1st of July 2025, in order to allow sufficient time for the necessary technological and functional adaptations to be made by all the actors involved in compliance with the regulation.
The geographical scope of application will be the entire national territory. This Royal Decree applies both to the services provided by online platforms to hosts that provide short-term accommodation rental services in Spain, regardless of the place of establishment of such platforms, and to the accommodation rental services provided by hosts through the platforms.
For the purposes of this Royal Decree, short-term accommodation rental service shall be understood to be the short-term rental of one or more units, for tourist purposes or otherwise, in exchange for remuneration, whether on a professional or non-professional basis, on a regular or non-regular basis, with the seasonal rental regulations of Article 3. 2 of the Law on Urban Leases (Law 29/1994), as well as the regulations applicable to boat rentals subject to Regulation (EU) 2024/1028, those applicable to tourist rentals and their sanctioning regime established by autonomous communities and local entities, as well as, where appropriate, those relating to the protection and defence of consumers and users.
Short-term accommodation rental services may cover all or part of a property, provided that, in accordance with the applicable regulations, this is possible. They shall also include accommodation on ships, boats or naval vessels, provided that it is not linked to a service that enables or determines navigation, in which case it shall always be governed by the applicable legislation.
Short-term accommodation rental services must be provided for temporary reasons, such as holidays, tourism, work, study, medical treatment or any other reason that does not imply a permanent need for housing, and must have equipment, furniture and fittings suitable for the use for which they are intended.
These short-term rentals will be obliged to obtain a unique registration number issued by the competent Property or Movable Property Registry in order to be able to offer them through the online platforms. The regulation establishes the minimum data to be included in the application for each unit and the lessors.
Every twelve months, the informative model of short-term leases must be provided, which will be approved by the Ministry of Housing and the Urban Agenda, for each category and type of lease, and which will include, at least, an anonymised list of the leases set up, as well as the identification of one of the purposes that has justified the type of lease.
In order to comply with the obligations of Regulation (EU) 2024/1028, the Digital One-Stop-Shop for Leases is created for the electronic transmission of data between online short-term rental platforms, and for the rest of the functions that the regulation establishes.
Until the approval of a sanctioning regime for the infringements that are regulated derived from this regulation, the sanctioning regimes and obligations contemplated in the state, autonomous community and local regulations will be applicable.
