What changes for owners and guests?

Owners now have until 31 December 2027 to register as an actividad clasificada, instead of July 2027. The Canarian government passed a decree with the force of law (decreto ley) on Monday 9 November 2026.

The change affects owners who were letting before the new law and have not yet filed their prior notification (comunicación previa). They gain about five months.

According to the information available, holiday guests need to do nothing. Anyone booking should ask the host whether the registration is under way.

Whether southern Tenerife or Gran Canaria will be treated differently, the information does not say. The decree covers the whole archipelago, with special rules for La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro.

Which documents do owners have to submit?

Owners must file a memoria técnica, a technical file on the property, and the decree sets its minimum content. It includes location and floor plans, photos and papers on the building's first occupation.

On fire safety, the government requires smoke detectors, fire extinguishers and signs marking escape routes. Owners must prove structural safety where the case calls for it.

Homes with a pool face extra requirements, as does access to the property. The information available does not spell out what they are.

New holiday lets must meet these requirements too. That applies until the final technical rules take effect.

What happens if the deadline passes?

Owners who miss the deadline may keep letting for five more years. After that the home must give up tourist use, so this is no open-ended extension.

The government says owners first needed to know which technical requirements apply. The extra time, it argues, lets them adapt to the new obligations.

Town halls (ayuntamientos) get at most two years to adopt and apply their inspection plans. Inspection programmes may run for up to four years.

The decree amends Law 6/2025 on the sustainable regulation of tourist housing. According to the BOE (Spain's state gazette), the law is dated 10 December 2025 and appeared on 23 December 2025.

When does the decree apply and what is still open?

The decree takes effect the day after it appears in the BOC, the Canarian official gazette. Its effect reaches back to 13 December 2025, the day Law 6/2025 came into force.

No BOC publication date had been named until Tuesday. The decree number is not in the information available either.

Fees, the registration platform and possible penalties have not been published. The government gives no figure for the number of homes affected.

What applies on La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro?

On the so-called Islas Verdes (green islands), their own tourism rules apply directly and take priority. The land-use rules of Law 6/2025 do not apply there until 13 December 2030.

One exception covers holiday homes destroyed in the 2021 volcanic eruption on La Palma. They may be rebuilt and resume letting with their former rights.

Rebuilt homes do not have to meet the minimum age requirement for homes set out in the new law. The decree states this explicitly.

How many holiday lets are there in the Canary Islands?

ISTAC, the Canarian statistics office, put the number at 47,716 homes in January 2025 in an experimental statistic. That was 12% more than a year earlier.

By May 2026 the statistic shows 38,337 homes, 20% fewer than a year before. In May 2025 ISTAC counted 47,648, and Tenerife had 19,286 of them, about 40%.

ISTAC gives no reasons. The fall came during the period in which the new rules took effect.