Essentially the law for Tourist Licences in Alicante changed the 9th July 2018. From that date there is a new requirement to obtain a tourist licence that is the Certificate of compatibility with tourist use, the Town hall has to issue it.
Now it is obligatory for all owners letting out properties as holiday lets to apply for a tourist licence in the Valencia region (we can only comment on this area). We recently received this email:-
How to Obtain a Tourist Licence in Alicante
We can help you in the whole process. We require:
We require:
- PASSPORT
- NIE Number
- SUMA (council tax bill)
- HABITATION CERTIFICATE or APPLICATION OF “LICENCIA SEGUNDA OCUPACION”
- TOWN HALL REPORT OF TOURIST USE or CERTIFICATE OF COMPATIBILITY
- NUMBER OF BEDROOMS AND BEDS (Maximum occupation)
- APPLICATION FORM SIGNED (original signature is required)
If you do not have the Habitation certificate now called “Declaracion responsable de segunda ocupacion” we can help you with this process. Please read “steps to get a Tourist Licence 2020” or advise Ana .
Tourist Licence Alicante: Case Study
“I have an apartment in Playa Flamenca and would like to inquire about what is needed for a tourist licence. I would need to let it out occasionally. The apartment is approximately 12 years old. I use it and also let my family use it. Your name was given to me by a friend. If you would be able to help me that would be most helpful.”
Our response
“When you rent out your property short term it is now compulsory to register your property at the Tourist office, this is called a Tourism licence. We can advise the cost of this.
Then there is a new requirement that is called Certificate of Compatibility with tourist uses. The Town hall has to issue this certificate. We can help you obtain it, even there are different requirements depending on the Town hall the property belongs, and sometimes there is a tax involved.
When we receive it from the Town hall we will be able to submit the application form for the tourist licence but not before.
A form must be filed at the tourist office which deals with this (ours is in Alicante City), then the client must register at the police station to get a user and password to enter the data (name and passport) for every guest they have at the property. We can help you with the whole process, to get the plaque and the access codes at the Police station
Habitation Certificate
Please note that a Declaration of Second Occupation is required. The Habitation certificate should have been delivered by the builder when a property was purchased. Or when you bought the property if a resale (certainly nowadays this always happens).
It is valid for 10 years, but sometimes it is issued some years after the house is sold. If a client cannot find it or if it is expired a new one is necessary. We can quote for the cost of the full process, with Town hall taxes and VAT included.
An architect has to visit the house to take pictures and measurements to make the plans.
Finally, the client needs to pay a tax on their rental income of 19% per annum . We can help you with payment of this tax. You do not need to worry about your friends and family using the property”.
If you are not Spanish resident
If you are renting out your property and you are non resident in Spain, you are required to pay a rental tax every quarter. That is by the 20th of January, April, July and October.
The form will need to be submitted to the Tax Office at the end of the corresponding quarter.
So as you can see, the law is changing and if someone is only renting out their property very occasionally, the cost of doing all this legally is prohibitive. The advantage if your property is getting enough lettings is that you are legal and can advertise to get bookings safely and without risk. The cons are that is expensive to sort, complicated, with a number of steps such as gathering the information, recording with the police, paying taxes, and we only can assist with a couple of these elements (habitation certificates for example and the licence).
Conclusions
We are posting this article so that clients are aware of this information.
It really depends on how many bookings you are getting/likely to get per year. Do not forget that if you are not using your property at all, then there are other options such as long-term rentals or even considering placing the property on the market for sale (as we all know that the pound is very weak at the moment, if that affects you).
As a final note, I am advised that in some regions, the government have started a programme to check each property for rented properties with the police going door to door to check if the property is being let and there is a licence. We have also heard that Torrevieja area is proposed to be one of those areas soon. Contact us please if we can be of any help.
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Randy Humphreys
How much does it cost to obtain a Tourist Rental Licence in Valencia Comunity