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Short answer: In May 2026 Spain's Supreme Court partially annulled Royal Decree 1312/2024, striking out the provisions that created the national rental registration procedure and the requirement to hold a national registration number in order to advertise short-term accommodation on online platforms. The judgment, 620/2026, was published in the Boletin Oficial del Estado on 8 June 2026. The national registration layer has gone. Andalucia's own tourist registration regime has not, and neither have the platform reporting obligations that sit behind it.
The court found that the state had exceeded its powers by creating a nationwide registration procedure in an area where competence sits with the autonomous communities, and that the system duplicated registers the regions already operate.
Two points are routinely reported wrongly. The first is that Royal Decree 1312/2024 was struck down in its entirety. It was not. The court annulled specific provisions, principally those establishing the Registro Unico de Arrendamientos procedure and the national registration number obtained through the Property Register, and dismissed the challenge in all other respects. The second is that the ruling ended platform data reporting. It did not. The single digital window through which platforms transmit activity data to the authorities survives.
The challenge that produced the judgment published on 8 June was brought by the Generalitat Valenciana. The Junta de Andalucia brought its own proceeding and obtained a substantially equivalent ruling later in the same month, as did Murcia.
The requirement had been in force since 1 July 2025. From that date, any property advertised on a platform such as Airbnb or Booking.com needed a national registration number, commonly referred to as the NRA or NRUA, with periodic declarations submitted through the same system. That procedure no longer stands.
This is the question most owners actually have, and it has a clean answer. In Andalucia the number that identifies a property as legally advertised is the code issued on registration with the Registro de Turismo de Andalucia, in the form VFT/MA/ followed by the registration number. That code must appear in all advertising and marketing material, exactly as it did before the national system existed.
The terminology causes confusion in English. Andalusian regulation covers viviendas con fines turisticos, updated by Decreto 31/2024, and the terms VFT and VUT are both in circulation. "Licence" is the word most British owners use, but registration works through a declaracion responsable, a responsible declaration made by the owner, followed by entry in the regional register. The distinction matters because the owner carries the responsibility for the declaration being accurate, and the administration can verify or inspect afterwards.
The regional regime in full. The Supreme Court ruling does not invalidate or replace Andalucia's tourist registration requirements. Owners must still comply with regional rules and with any applicable municipal restrictions, and with the conditions attached to the registration itself, which cover matters from habitability certification to the information given to guests.
The community of owners remains the point at which most letting plans fail. For new registrations, current Andalusian requirements include evidence that the community has expressly approved tourist use where the property sits under the horizontal property regime, and communities are able to vote to restrict or prohibit tourist use in the building. Anyone buying an apartment in Nerja, Torrox or Frigiliana with letting income in mind should establish the community's position and read the statutes before signing anything.
Tax obligations are unaffected. So are the guest identification and reporting duties that sit outside this judgment.
No, and the distinction matters. The case was about which level of government holds the power to regulate, not about whether short-term letting should be regulated. Responsibility has returned to the regions, where it sat before 2025. Scrutiny of tourist accommodation across the Costa del Sol has been increasing rather than easing, and nothing in this ruling reverses that.
There is a second reason not to treat the position as settled. A requirement that was legally mandatory in July 2025 was annulled by May 2026. Anyone making a purchase decision on the assumption that today's rules are permanent is reading a market that has changed its rental rules twice in under two years.
Spain's obligations under the EU short-term rental regulation have not gone away. Regulation (EU) 2024/1028 became applicable on 20 May 2026 and sets common rules for registration procedures and for the exchange of data between platforms and public authorities. It provides that a property should not be subject to more than one registration procedure, while allowing that procedure to be organised at national, regional or local level. The regulation therefore does not require Spain to rebuild the national register the Supreme Court struck down.
The more likely direction is a system in which the existing regional registers feed the data-sharing framework the EU rules require. Platforms are still expected to verify registration numbers and report activity data through the single digital entry point, which the ruling left largely intact. The disappearance of the national registration procedure should not be read as the disappearance of platform reporting.
The ruling lands in a local market that is behaving differently from the national one, and the gap is wider than most coverage suggests.
Spain registered 167,934 home sales in the second quarter of 2026, down 5.7% on the first quarter and 2.3% on the same quarter of 2025, according to the Colegio de Registradores. Andalucia as a region fell 4.5%. Malaga province went the other way, registering 9,387 sales, up 7.7% on the quarter and 8.7% on the year. The average registered price in the province reached 3,347 euros per built square metre.
Foreign demand explains much of it. Foreign buyers took a record 15.98% of Spanish purchases in the second quarter, and in Malaga province the share was 37.01%, up from 34.30% in the first quarter and second only to Alicante. Dutch buyers were the second largest group nationally at 6.94% of foreign purchases, marginally behind the British.
For an owner with a registered letting property, the ruling removes an administrative obstacle to income without changing the value of the asset. For an owner weighing a sale, the relevant questions are local rather than national: what comparable properties in the same urbanisation have actually sold for, how the property shows against them, and what a buyer is likely to deduct for any work it needs.
No. The Supreme Court annulled the provisions requiring that national registration number in order to offer short-term accommodation through online platforms. Andalucia's own tourist registration requirements remain in force.
No. The decree was partially annulled. The challenge was dismissed in all other respects, and the single digital window for platform data remains.
The registration code issued by the Registro de Turismo de Andalucia, which must appear in all advertising.
Yes. For new registrations, evidence of the community's express approval is required where the property is under the horizontal property regime, and communities can vote to restrict or prohibit tourist use.
The case concerned the register covering short-term and seasonal lets advertised through platforms. Long-term residential tenancies are governed separately.
A second attempt would face the same competence problem. Coordination between the regional registers and the platforms is the more likely outcome, and the detail of it is not yet settled.
We work across Nerja, Torrox and Frigiliana, and a large part of what we handle is second homes with a letting history. If there is a question about how this ruling affects a specific property, or about what it is worth in the current market, we are happy to look at it with you. Get in touch.
This article is general information and is not legal or tax advice. Rules governing tourist accommodation in Andalucia change frequently. Owners should confirm their position with a Spanish lawyer or gestor before acting.
Last reviewed: September 2026.
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