Valencia's Decree-Law 9/2024 and Short-Term Rentals: What Costa Blanca Investors Need to Know

Valencia's Decree-Law 9/2024 and Short-Term Rentals: What Costa Blanca Investors Need to Know

If you own — or plan to buy — a holiday rental on the Costa Blanca, the rules of the game have changed. The Valencian regional government's Decree-Law 9/2024, together with subsequent implementing regulations, has reshaped how tourist rentals are registered, taxed and operated across Alicante, Valencia and Castellón provinces. Add the national single-window rental register rolled out under EU pressure, and you are now operating under a much tighter framework than the "just get a VT number and list it" era of a few years ago.

This guide walks you through what the new Valencia short-term rental rules mean in practice, what to check before you buy, and how to protect the yield on a property you already own.

Why the rules tightened

Valencia's regional government reacted to three pressures: overtourism complaints in coastal hotspots (Benidorm, Dénia, Jávea, Calpe, Altea), a national housing-affordability debate, and the EU's Regulation 2024/1028 requiring every member state to build a single registry of short-term rental units.

Decree-Law 9/2024 consolidated earlier tourism decrees (notably 10/2021) and introduced:

• A stricter registration regime for viviendas de uso turístico (VUT / VT).
• A five-year renewable licence rather than an indefinite one.
• Explicit power for municipalities to cap, zone or suspend new tourist-rental licences.
• Tougher compatibility checks with community-of-owners statutes and urban planning.
• Meaningful sanctions for unlicensed listings — into the tens of thousands of euros for serious cases.

Because tourism competence sits with the Comunitat Valenciana, these rules apply across the Costa Blanca. Because urbanism sits with town halls, the ayuntamiento where your property is located can add another layer on top. That two-layer structure is the single most important thing to understand.

The registration process, step by step

To operate a legal Costa Blanca holiday rental licence today, you generally need to complete the following. Confirm the current forms and thresholds with the Conselleria de Turismo and your local ayuntamiento before filing.

1. Municipal compatibility report (*informe de compatibilidad urbanística*). The town hall certifies that tourist use is permitted at your address under current zoning. In some districts of Valencia city and in parts of Alicante and Dénia, that report will now come back negative — full stop.
2. Community of owners consent where required. Following the 2025 reforms to the Ley de Propiedad Horizontal, a community can block or restrict tourist rentals by a qualified majority. If your building's statutes prohibit VT use, you cannot register.
3. Declaración responsable filed with the Registro de Turismo of the Comunitat Valenciana, obtaining your VT number.
4. Entry in the national single rental register (Ventanilla Única) run by the Colegio de Registradores, which issues the pan-European registration code platforms (Airbnb, Booking, Vrbo) must display.
5. Habitability, safety and equipment standards: first-occupancy licence, energy certificate, fire extinguishers, complaint sheets, guest information in multiple languages, minimum room sizes and air conditioning in most coastal municipalities.

The licence is now issued for five years and must be renewed, and it is tied to the property, not the owner — although a change of ownership triggers a new declaración responsable.

Municipal overlays you must check

Blanket regional rules are only half the story. Some examples of what town halls have added — verify the current local ordinance before you act:

• Valencia city: moratorium on new VT licences in the historic districts and Ciutat Vella; ground-floor and first-floor restrictions elsewhere.
• Alicante: zoning-based caps in the centre and El Barrio; stricter parking and noise rules.
• Dénia, Jávea, Calpe, Altea, Benidorm: varying combinations of density caps, minimum-stay rules, and prohibitions in specific urbanizaciones.
• Torrevieja, Orihuela Costa, Guardamar: historically more permissive, but reviewing licence caps as complaints rise.

If a listing agent tells you a property "can obviously be rented on Airbnb," ask to see the municipal compatibility report in that specific street. Do not rely on the fact that neighbours are doing it — many of those licences are grandfathered or, frankly, illegal.

Tax and reporting obligations

Short-term rental income is taxable in Spain regardless of where you are resident. In broad terms:

• Non-resident EU/EEA owners are taxed under IRNR on net income (allowable expenses deductible) at the non-resident rate.
• Non-resident non-EU owners (US, Canada, post-Brexit UK) are taxed on gross income with far fewer deductions — a meaningful disadvantage that often surprises North American buyers.
• Resident owners declare rental income under IRPF.
• VAT/IVA generally does not apply to pure lodging without hotel-type services, but does apply the moment you add cleaning between guests, reception, breakfast, etc. — the line is fact-specific.
• Tourist tax (impuesto sobre estancias turísticas) applies in the Comunitat Valenciana; the exact per-night amounts vary by category and municipality and are updated periodically, so check the current Conselleria de Hacienda schedule.
• Platforms report bookings to the tax authorities under DAC7; assume every euro is visible to the Agencia Tributaria.

Because rates, allowances and the resident/non-resident treatment shift with each national budget, confirm your figures with a Spanish asesor fiscal before you model yields.

Realistic yields under the new regime

The tourist rental Alicante regulations — combined with rising IBI valuations in some municipalities, higher cleaning and utility costs, and platform commissions — have compressed net yields. A well-located two-bedroom flat in a licensed zone of the northern Costa Blanca that grossed strong summer numbers a few years ago now needs to absorb:

• Licence and renewal costs.
• Higher management fees (professional managers are increasingly essential for compliance).
• Tourist-tax collection and remittance.
• More conservative occupancy assumptions outside July–August.

You should model net, after-tax yield, not gross ADR × occupancy. Serious investors are running two scenarios in parallel: short-term rental with a licence, and mid-term (32-plus days) rental under the Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos, which currently sits outside the tourist regime.

Buying with rental intent — due diligence checklist

Before you sign anything:

• Confirm zoning compatibility with the town hall in writing.
• Read the community statutes and recent minutes — look for any vote restricting tourist use.
• If a VT number already exists, verify it is active, transferable and matches the cadastral reference.
• Ask your independent abogado (never the seller's or agency's lawyer) to review outstanding fines or open sanctioning files.
• Check the energy certificate rating — an F or G will limit your options as efficiency rules tighten.
• Budget for licence renewal every five years and possible future caps.

Common pitfalls

• Assuming a Decreto 9/2024 Valencia rentals licence issued to the previous owner automatically transfers with no paperwork. It usually does not.
• Buying in a building whose community has quietly voted to ban VT use.
• Listing on Airbnb with only the regional VT number and no national single-register code — platforms now delist non-compliant properties.
• Under-declaring income when the platform is already reporting it under DAC7.
• Ignoring the ayuntamiento moratorium because "the estate agent said it's fine."

Short FAQ

Can I still get a new tourist licence on the Costa Blanca? In many municipalities yes, in some no, and in a few only in specific zones. Always request a written informe de compatibilidad urbanística before you buy.

Does my existing VT licence survive Decree-Law 9/2024? Existing licences generally remain valid but must be brought into the new five-year renewal cycle and registered in the national single window. Confirm the transition rules with the Registro de Turismo.

Is mid-term rental a legal workaround? Rentals over roughly a month fall under the LAU rather than the tourist regime, but tax and community rules still apply, and some town halls are looking at closing perceived loopholes.

Are fines really being issued? Yes. Sanctions for unlicensed tourist rentals in the Comunitat Valenciana can reach the tens of thousands of euros, and inspection activity has increased sharply.

Final word

Spanish and regional rules on short-term rentals are moving quickly, and the exact figures, deadlines and municipal overlays change from one budget cycle to the next. Treat this guide as an orientation, not legal advice — and before you buy, renew or restructure, confirm the current position with the Conselleria de Turismo, your ayuntamiento, and an independent licensed Spanish abogado and asesor fiscal.