Canary Islands: municipalities move to control vacation rentals
Vacation rentals in the Canary Islands are facing tighter control. Under Law 6/2025 (Ley 6/2025), every municipality in the archipelago had until 13 August 2026 to approve control and inspection plans for vacation rentals (vivienda vacacional). According to the regional government (Dirección General de Ordenación, Formación y Promoción Turística), all 88 municipalities have completed the task. The development was reported by Canarias7 and moncloa.com.
Photo: *angys*, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Symbolbild).
That not a single municipality requested the model template offered by the Tourism Department is read as a sign that the plans were finished independently. A four-year period now begins in which compliance with the rules is to be checked.
What the municipalities approved
The basis is Law 6/2025, the law on the sustainable regulation of the tourist use of dwellings (Ley de Ordenación Sostenible del Uso Turístico de Viviendas) of 10 December 2025. It obliged municipalities to approve their own control and inspection plans for vacation rentals by 13 August 2026.
According to the relevant directorate-general, all 88 municipalities in the archipelago adopted the plans on time. Because no municipality fell back on the model template provided by the Tourism Department, the administration regards the task as done.
Prior notification as the core requirement
At the centre of the control is the comunicación previa municipal, a prior notification to the municipality for so-called classified activities (actividades clasificadas). Every vacation rental must hold this notification.
The requirement is not new: it dates back to Decree 113/2015 (Decreto 113/2015). According to the reports, however, municipalities have enforced it inconsistently, so that many units are listed in the tourism register without having filed the municipal notification.
Four years to inspect, one year to fix
With the approved plans, a four-year period begins in which municipalities verify compliance. Owners of non-compliant units have one year, after publication in the Boletín Oficial de Canarias (BOC), to regularise their property.
Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, Director General de Ordenación, Formación y Promoción Turística, explained this four-year implementation period, during which the control is meant to take effect gradually, according to the reports.
La Laguna shows the scale
The example of La Laguna shows how wide the gap is. There, according to the data, 1,179 vacation rentals are entered in the tourism register, but only 86 hold the prior municipal notification.
In purely arithmetical terms, about 93% of the registered units therefore lack this proof. The case illustrates why municipalities now want to check systematically, and how many owners would need to use the one-year window to regularise.
Pushback from the industry
Not everyone agrees with the course. The vacation-rental association Ascav opposes the prior-notification requirement. The association points to a report by Spain's competition authority, the CNMC, which classes the requirement as unnecessary.
The dispute highlights the opposing interests: municipalities and the regional government see the notification as a tool to order the market, while parts of the industry regard it as a superfluous hurdle.
If it is missing, a one-year window to regularise runs from publication in the BOC.
Key facts
- All 88 municipalities in the Canary Islands have approved their control plans (Gobierno de Canarias)
- Basis: Law 6/2025 of 10 December 2025; deadline 13 August 2026
- Four-year inspection phase; one year to regularise after publication in the BOC
- Core requirement: comunicación previa municipal, originating in Decree 113/2015
- La Laguna: 1,179 registered vacation rentals, only 86 with prior notification (about 93% without)
- Ascav opposes the requirement, citing a report by the CNMC
FAQ
- How many municipalities approved the plans?
- All 88 municipalities in the Canary Islands, according to the regional government, by the 13 August 2026 deadline.
- What is the comunicación previa municipal?
- A prior notification to the municipality for classified activities that every vacation rental needs. The requirement dates back to Decree 113/2015.
- How long does the control phase last?
- Four years. Owners of non-compliant units have one year to regularise after publication in the BOC.
- Why is La Laguna an example?
- There, 1,179 vacation rentals are registered, but only 86 hold the prior notification, so about 93% lack it.
- Who criticises the new requirement?
- The association Ascav opposes the prior notification and cites a report by the competition authority CNMC.