How can I check whether a flat has a legal holiday let licence in Catalonia?

Question

José Manuel Alburquerque · Accepted Answer

Every legal holiday let has a registration number in the Catalan Tourism Register (“Registre de Turisme de Catalunya”), which must appear in its advertisements and in a visible place in the home. That number can be checked against the Register's data, which is public and which the Generalitat de Catalunya (the Catalan government) publishes on its website. In Barcelona, the City Council also has a search tool by address at barcelona.cat/habitatgesturistics. If the address does not appear, according to the City Council the flat has no licence. If you are going to buy it, the Register is not enough, because it does not say how long the flat will be able to operate or whether the owners' association (the “comunidad de propietarios”) has banned it. Where to check In the advertisement and in the flat. The number must appear in any advertisement or publicity. Inside the home it must be on display, together with the maximum capacity and the assistance telephone number. In the Catalan Tourism Register. The Catalan tourism regulations state that its data is public and can be consulted online. The Generalitat publishes the lists of registered accommodation on its website, including on its open data portal, although it warns that they are for information only and may contain errors, omissions or pending registrations. In Barcelona, at barcelona.cat/habitatgesturistics. The City Council's search tool works by address. From the same page you can report an unlicensed holiday let to the City Council. A number does not prove that the flat is legal It is not enough for the advertisement to carry a number. It may be made up or belong to another flat. In December 2025, the “Ministerio de Derechos Sociales, Consumo y Agenda 2030”, Spain's Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and the 2030 Agenda, fined Airbnb more than 64 million euros over more than 65.000 advertisements published without a licence or with a number that did not match the numbering of the registers. The fine has been appealed and is not final. Always check the number against the Register and against the exact address of the flat. Nor is proof provided by the number from the national register, the “Registro Único de Arrendamientos”, Spain's register of short-term lets, which the “Tribunal Supremo”, Spain's Supreme Court, annulled in May 2026, as explained in the question on that register. In Catalonia, the number that counts is the one from the Tourism Register. In the rest of Spain, each autonomous community has its own register and its own number. If you are going to buy the flat If you plan to buy it to continue the activity, also check: How long it can operate. In the 262 municipalities covered by Catalan Decree-Law 3/2023, including Barcelona, flats that were already authorised when it came into force, on 9 November 2023, have until November 2028 to obtain planning permission or close, unless they obtain an extension. Those authorised afterwards need that permission from the outset. Ask for the planning permission or for proof of the date on which the prior notification, the procedure by which the flat is authorised, was filed. That the authorisation is in the seller's name and there are no open proceedings or penalties against it. Ask the seller for the filing receipt for the prior notification, showing its official entry registration. Ask the town council as well. That the certificate of habitability (“cédula de habitabilidad”), the document certifying that the home meets the minimum conditions for living in it, is valid and that the number of guests advertised does not exceed the number it allows. That the owners' association's by-laws do not ban holiday lets. This can be seen in the land registry extract (“nota simple”), the summary of the flat's situation issued by the “Registro de la Propiedad”, the Land Registry. Also review the minutes of the latest owners' general meetings, as explained in the question on the owners' association's permission to open a holiday let. What happens to the authorisation when the flat is sold is explained in the question on whether the licence passes to the buyer.