Types of Rent in Spain — Long-Term, Holiday, and Seasonal

If renting is part of your plan, whether as a tenant or an owner renting out a property, it’s useful to know that Spanish law regulates these three categories quite differently. Correctly identifying the category from the start helps avoid confusion later on.

Long-term rental

Governed by Spain’s Urban Leases Law, LAU (Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos), this is the standard residential contract with a real structure:

• Minimum term: contracts are usually signed for one year, but the tenant has the legal right to renew annually up to 5 years (up to 7 years if the landlord is a company).
• Deposit: legally capped at one month’s rent, though landlords often additionally ask for a bank guarantee or extra months beyond the limit.
• Rent increases: tied to a specific index (currently based on the INE reference index, Spain’s National Statistics Institute, rather than the landlord’s discretion), so increases can’t be arbitrary. In recent years it’s been around 2.2-2.5%.
• Notice period: tenants usually need to give 30 days’ notice to terminate the contract early after the first 6 months.
• Early termination by the landlord: possible after the tenant has lived there for a year, provided the property is needed for the owner or their family members, with 4 months’ notice.

For owners, this is a more stable and predictable option: steady income, less tenant turnover, but less flexibility to change terms or recover the property quickly.

Tourist rental

Short-term tourist rentals follow completely different rules, and licensing has tightened significantly across Spain over the past year. Tourist rentals are regulated by regional authorities, so each autonomous community has its own rules.

• Costa Blanca / Comunidad Valenciana: a tourist license is required specifically for stays of up to 10 nights. Rentals from 11 nights up to 9 months are considered temporary and don’t require a tourist license at all. Getting a license is a fairly involved process: the property must first meet certain requirements, such as having a parking space, approval from the comunidad (the community of property owners in the building), and other similar conditions set by the municipality.
• Tenerife / Canary Islands: as of December 2025, a new law completely halted the issuance of new tourist licenses. Existing licenses remain valid, but no new ones are currently being granted, which has noticeably slowed sales of properties bought specifically for this purpose. When ownership changes, old licenses typically lose their validity.

Operating a tourist rental without a valid license isn’t just a fine risk, it’s effectively operating outside the law, and enforcement has increased both in these regions and across Spain.

Seasonal rental (temporada)

Sits between the two previous options: seasonal rentals are possible for up to 9 months. In the Valencia region, this covers 11 nights up to 9 months. In the Canary Islands, up to 9 months. For this type of rental, the reason for renting matters. It can’t be for a holiday, nor for permanent residence. It’s often used by people relocating temporarily, working remotely for a season, or staying for a set period for health recovery, and so on.

• Doesn’t fall under the strict tenant protections of the LAU, since it’s not considered a primary residence.
• No fixed minimum deposit requirement like in long-term rentals.
• More flexibility for both sides, but less legal backing if problems arise.
• On the Costa Blanca, this is exactly the category that covers 11 nights to 9 months, a genuinely convenient middle ground for both tenants and owners.

Why this matters

Choosing the wrong category, or worse, renting out a property without understanding which rules apply, is one of the most common and easily avoidable mistakes in the Spanish property market. Understanding which type of rental fits your specific situation, whether you’re renting out or renting, is the first real step toward doing it right.