Tourist flats in the building: how to check before you buy in Spain, and what 2028 changes in Barcelona

You don't notice tourist flats at an 11am viewing. You notice them at 11pm on a Friday: suitcases on the stairs, the door buzzer, the lift that's always on the fifth floor. So check the building before you fall for the flat.

Why it matters when you're buying

Tourist flats bring turnover, noise and wear on the lift and stairs. Owners who rent to tourists often vote differently on works and rules from owners who live there.

If you were thinking of covering the mortgage with short lets, check the city's rules first. There are no new licences in Barcelona, and in central Madrid tourist flats can't share a residential building with homes (see below). In Barcelona, a building with many tourist flats may also change a lot after 2028, which can move its resale value either way.

How to check a single flat

In Barcelona, the city launched an online checker on its Habitatge Barcelona site in late June 2025. You enter the exact address or the tourist register number (RTC, often shown as HUTB-…). It tells you whether that flat has a valid licence, and it has a map of all registered tourist flats (idealista). The older address search is still on the city's tourist-housing page (meet.barcelona.cat). Legal tourist flats must show their registration number in every advert, so a whole-flat listing in Barcelona with no number is a red flag.

In the Comunidad de Madrid, a tourist flat (vivienda de uso turístico) starts with a declaration (declaración responsable) to the regional tourism department, backed by a technician's certificate of suitability, the CIVUT (Comunidad de Madrid). In Madrid city it also has to fit the city's planning rules. Elsewhere, ask the town hall and the regional tourism department.

Spain planned a single national register of short-term lets (Registro Único de Arrendamientos), but the Supreme Court annulled its registration procedure in rulings of May and June 2026, after challenges from regions and owners' associations. The rest of that decree, the digital data exchange with the letting platforms, still stands (BOE, BOE). For now, the regional registers and the city licences are what count.

How to check the whole building

Barcelona's tool checks one door at a time. For a building with 20 flats, you'd have to try every floor and door. In Catalonia and the Comunidad de Madrid, homie does that for you and returns the number of registered tourist flats in the building.

What 2028 means in Barcelona

A Catalan decree-law of November 2023 (Decret llei 3/2023) says existing tourist flats in listed municipalities, Barcelona included, need a planning licence within five years or must stop operating (BOE). The decree took effect on 9 November 2023, so the deadline falls around November 2028. Barcelona announced in June 2024 that it won't grant or renew these licences.

Spain's Constitutional Court upheld the decree in March 2025 (STC 64/2025) (Tribunal Constitucional). The owners' association Apartur is still challenging parts of the policy (idealista, Sept 2026). Treat 2028 as the city's firm intention, not a certainty.

How many flats are affected: about 9.500 were licensed in mid-2025, and a little over 10.000 in January 2026, according to the city (ON Economia).

Can I buy a flat with a tourist licence in Barcelona and keep running it?

Only until the licence lapses. Barcelona's tourist-accommodation plan (PEUAT) allows no growth in the central zones, and the 2023 decree requires a planning licence the city won't grant. In practice, no new tourist licences are being issued in Barcelona (ON Economia). Don't pay a premium for a licence that may be worth nothing in 2028.

Madrid: the Plan Reside

Madrid city's Plan Reside changes the planning rules for tourist lodging. The Comunidad de Madrid gave it final approval on 27 August 2025, and it was published in the BOCM on 4 September 2025. Inside the historic centre (the area the plan calls APE 00.01), tourist lodging isn't allowed on any floor of a building in residential use. A whole residential building can switch to tourist flats only in narrow cases: for example, a listed building at protection level 3 that is restored, with a licence that expires after 15 years, when the building returns to housing (BOCM). Outside the centre the rules are different, so check with the town hall.

What the community of owners can do

In most of Spain, the Ley de Propiedad Horizontal sets the rule. Since April 2025 (Ley Orgánica 1/2025), new tourist flats need the approval of 3/5 of the owners, who must also hold 3/5 of the shares. The same majority can limit, condition or ban tourist use, and none of these agreements is retroactive (art. 17.12) (BOE).

Catalonia is the exception. The 3/5 rule doesn't apply there (CAFBL), and Book V of the Catalan Civil Code governs instead. A community can prohibit tourist use in its statutes with the votes of 4/5 of the owners, holding 4/5 of the shares (Sepín). To bind future buyers, the change must be recorded in a public deed and registered at the Land Registry. It doesn't reach existing tourist flats.

Wherever you buy, ask for the community statutes (estatutos) and the minutes of the last two meetings. You'll see whether a ban exists, or is being discussed.