Note

Vivienda vacacional in the Canary Islands

§ 1What we read

We read Law 6/2025 of 10 December, of Sustainable Ordering of the Tourist Use of Homes, in the Canary Islands, as published in the Spanish official gazette. Our tool gave the preamble and the articles up to the eighth, so the sanctions, the transitional provisions and the later articles are not covered, and for the first six articles we rely on the preamble’s account. This page belongs to the chapter in the basics of holiday rentals.

§ 2Scope

The law covers the holiday home, the vivienda vacacional, and tourist use of homes. The preamble says the 2015 decree had treated these as a type of extra-hotel accommodation and that the new law replaces that framework. Its object includes sustainability, housing and coexistence.

§ 3Planning first

The central rule, as the preamble describes it, is that tourist use of a building with residential use requires prior enabling by urban planning. The planner decides the model and the admissible uses. So the first question for a buyer is what the municipal plan says for the building, not what a previous owner did.

§ 4Reserves and exclusions

The preamble describes reserves under which at least eighty per cent of the housing in a given area cannot, in principle, change its destination, rising to ninety per cent on islands that are mainly tourist, with lower figures for La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro. Protected housing is excluded from tourist use. Protected natural areas have their own planning, and some rural land categories are restricted. Multi-family buildings have a cap on the number of occupants.

§ 5Age and tense markets

A minimum building age applies before a dwelling can be enabled, which planning may reduce except in areas declared a stressed residential market. In such areas, new tourist enabling is suspended, and authorised dwellings are not affected.

§ 6Declaration and register

The law keeps a declaración responsable instead of prior authorisation. It is filed electronically with documents on classified activities, planning and horizontal property, and a mechanism prevents several declarations on the same property. The regime of the horizontal property law is incorporated without change, so the community vote described in what to know about the community vote applies. Article eight requires registration in the general tourism register, with a number for each accommodation, in line with the EU regulation. The separate national registry number was annulled by the Supreme Court in 2026, as what to know about the national registry number explains, so the Canary registration number is the one to keep in order. Since 3 April 2025 the horizontal property law also asks for the community’s express approval before a new tourist let starts.

§ 7What is missing

Sanctions, transitional rules for existing homes, any exception for a main residence and the exact reserves calculation were not in the text we read. A later Canary law of 31 July 2026, in force from 15 August 2026, amends Law 6/2025. We did not read it. Press and legal blogs say it changes the transitional rules and adds a definition of a tourist let, so ask a lawyer registered in the islands for the consolidated text.

§ 8Before you buy

Ask the town hall and your lawyer whether the specific home can be enabled, and read the operative articles.

§ 9More on this topic

What to know about letting on Airbnb explains the platform side of tourist lets and what to know about the Valencian Community explains the Valencian rules for tourist dwellings.

What to know about Andalusia explains what the Junta says about tourist dwellings and what to know about Catalonia explains the Catalan decree-law on tourist dwellings.

What to know about the Balearic Islands explains the Balearic decree-law on tourist stays in dwellings and the basics of Madrid explains the Madrid rules for tourist dwellings.

Legal note. How the process works in general. It is not legal advice, and it never replaces an independent Spanish lawyer acting for you.