The Canary Islands' new holiday-rental law: what Ley 6/2025 means for owners

Renting a holiday home in the Canaries used to be governed by a 2015 decree and a great deal of improvisation. Between 2024 and the end of 2025, three layers of new law arrived — and together they redraw the map for every owner in Tenerife and Fuerteventura.

Layer one: the national single registry

Since 1 July 2025, every short-term rental in Spain needs a national registration number (NRA) obtained through the property registry's one-stop window. Platforms such as Airbnb and Booking are obliged to display it and to delist properties without it. If your listing still lacks a number, that is the most urgent item on this page.

Layer two: your community of owners got a veto

A reform in force since 3 April 2025 allows communities of owners to approve — or refuse — new holiday lets in the building by a three-fifths majority. Existing, lawfully operating rentals are not expelled by the vote, but anyone buying "to rent" must now read the community's minutes and statutes before signing anything.

Layer three: the Canarian law — Ley 6/2025

On 10 December 2025 the Canary Islands passed their own law on the sustainable use of housing for tourism, replacing the 2015 decree. Its headlines:

• A cap: as a rule, no more than 10% of the housing stock of each municipality (or zone) may be dedicated to holiday rental — up to 20% on El Hierro, La Gomera and La Palma.
• Municipal zoning: town halls decide in which areas new holiday-rental licences can appear; island cabildos authorise and inspect.
• New builds must wait: homes cannot be put to tourist use until ten years after completion.
• Protected housing (VPO) is excluded outright, and buildings operated wholesale as de-facto hotels are banned.
• Existing compliant rentals continue under transitional rules — but "compliant" is doing a lot of work in that sentence: registration, habitability and the paperwork trail all count.

What this means in Corralejo and Costa Adeje

Both towns are exactly where demand — and therefore the caps — will bite first. Two practical consequences:

1. If you already rent: verify that your registrations (Canarian registry and NRA) are in order and keep evidence of your activity — transitional protection follows the paperwork.
2. If you are buying to rent: the licence question now comes before the purchase, not after. A flat without community consent, in a saturated zone, or built last year may simply never obtain one — and its price should reflect that.

The era of "buy first, licence later" is over in the Canaries. The licence IS the asset now.

Our real-estate team checks the rental status of a property before you commit — ask us about your case.