When do holiday let licences in Barcelona come to an end?

Question

José Manuel Alburquerque · Accepted Answer

In principle, in November 2028. That month marks the end of the five years that Catalan Decree-Law 3/2023 gave holiday lets already operating to obtain planning permission or cease the activity. Barcelona City Council announced in June 2024 that it will not approve the planning rules that would allow those licences to be granted, so, if it maintains that position, the current holiday lets, some 10.000, will have to cease operating then. The “Tribunal Constitucional”, Spain's Constitutional Court, upheld the decree-law in its judgment 64/2025 of 13 March. A single extension of up to five more years can be requested, but it is not automatic and is only granted if it is shown that the period does not make up for the loss of the licence. The decree-law's time limit Decree-Law 3/2023 requires planning permission to use a home as a holiday let (tourist accommodation) in 262 municipalities with housing access problems, including Barcelona. The licence lasts five years and can be extended for periods of the same length if the local planning rules allow it. In addition, no more than ten licences can be granted per hundred inhabitants. Holiday lets that were already operating when it came into force, on 9 November 2023, have five years to obtain that licence or cease the activity. In Barcelona, the City Council also announced that it will remove this category of accommodation from its special plan for tourist accommodation, the PEUAT. If it changed its position or a court annulled that planning change, the situation could be different. The extension and compensation The only way to lengthen the time limit is the extension provided for in the decree-law itself: It is a single extension, of up to five more years. It is not automatic. The holder must show that the five years are not enough to make up for the loss of the licence. It is requested from the City Council from November 2027 onwards, when four years have passed since the decree-law came into force. It must be requested before the five-year period ends. There is no separate compensation. The decree-law states that the adaptation period itself is the compensation on all counts. The Constitutional Court held that there is no expropriation, but a limit on the use of property because of its social function. If you buy or sell a holiday let A holiday let licence in Barcelona does not secure the activity beyond November 2028, unless the extension is obtained. In addition, the owners' association can ban holiday lets in its by-laws. Once it is entered in the “Registro de la Propiedad”, the Land Registry, that ban binds anyone who buys afterwards, even if the flat has a licence. In the other municipalities to which the decree-law applies, the five-year period is the same. Whether new licences can be obtained depends on each town council's planning rules.