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Legal notes in plain words — property, inheritance, residency and daily life in the Canary Islands, explained for international readers.
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Living in a tourist complex in the south of Tenerife: the single-operator rule, what an owner can and cannot do, and the window to 2028
A unit in a tourist complex is an accommodation unit, not a home: the Canary tourism Act binds every unit to one operator, the renovation Act forbids turning it into a dwelling, and fines run to 300,000 euros. What the courts decided in Arona and Gran Canaria, the question now before the Supreme Court, the decree-law that lets owners ask for a change of use until March 2028, the bill the Parliament rejected on 14 October 2026, the decree the Government announced, and ten papers to read first.
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Co-owning a property in Spain with your ex or your siblings: how to get out of a proindiviso
A flat bought with a partner who is now an ex, or a parent's house inherited with brothers and sisters: Spanish law lets any owner end the co-ownership at any time. This guide sets out the rules while it lasts, the three ways out without a judge, the division claim as it works in 2026 (negotiation first, an oral trial, the auction), what a right of use over the family home changes, why heirs must divide the estate first and the nine days co-owners have when a share is sold.
Hidden defects after buying a home in Spain: the six-month trap and the other routes
The Civil Code gives the buyer of a home a remedy for defects that could not be seen, and six months from the deed to use it, whenever the leak appears. What counts as a hidden defect, the two remedies, how a request to negotiate now suspends the period, and the routes that remain afterwards: breach of contract when the home is unfit to live in, deceit when the seller knew, the builders' ten, three and one years, and the limits of the «as seen» clause.
Winter lets in Spain after the October 2026 decrees: the seasonal contract came back on 2 October and left again on 8 October, pending the vote
A couple from Bergen and the same flat in Costa del Silencio every winter, read against the repeal of Real Decreto-ley 26/2026 on 2 October 2026 and against Real Decreto-ley 29/2026, which took the seasonal let out of the Urban Leases Act again on 8 October pending a vote: what made a let seasonal, the two-month deposit, how the season ends, the border with the holiday let, what a contract signed before 8 October keeps and what a new winter contract is now.
Spain's October 2026 rental decrees were repealed on 2 October and are back since 8 October: what applies to a lease now, pending the vote
A Dutch owner with two flats in Los Cristianos, one let to a family since 2022 and the other every winter to the same couple, read against the repeal of Real Decreto-ley 26/2026 and 27/2026 on 2 October 2026 and against Real Decreto-ley 29/2026, which brought most of their measures back on 8 October pending a vote: the extraordinary extension, the 2 % ceiling, the temporary-housing lease in place of the seasonal let, the small print, evictions, and what to do with the papers of those days.
Building licences and the cédula de habitabilidad in the Canaries: the three titles, the four-year clock and the papers a buyer must see before signing
A villa in Callao Salvaje with a 2009 pool and a 2023 glazed terrace, neither with a permit, read against the Canary land law, its 2018 regulation, the 2006 habitability decree, Ley 7/2026 and the state rules on deeds, taxes and the coast: which works need a licence, a prior communication or nothing; why no town hall issues a cédula de habitabilidad any more and what replaced it; the four-year clock and where it never runs; water and electricity; the notary; the fines; ten checks before signing.
Buying off-plan in the south of Tenerife: the bank guarantee the law gives you, what to demand before paying, and what happens when the developer is late
A reservation paid, 20 % due over fourteen months, delivery «estimated» for 2028: what protects that money is the Building Act's first additional provision, rewritten in 2015. Read in the text: the guarantee from the licence on, insurance or bank guarantee covering every euro plus tax and interest, the special account and the bank's own duty, the certificate to hold on signing day, rescission for any delay, the two-year lapse of a bank guarantee, and a worked example from Adeje.