To run a holiday home in the Canary Islands, it has to be authorised (a declaración responsable, or responsible declaration, filed with the cabildo, the island council, and entry in the Registro General Turístico, the regional tourism register). You also have to meet obligations such as guest registration and showing the registration number in your listings, and organise the day-to-day running: pricing, guests, cleaning and maintenance. Since Ley 6/2025, amended in August 2026, new licences are much harder to obtain and existing ones are subject to deadlines.
In short
- If you already have a licence, your priority is to understand your deadlines and options under Ley 6/2025.
- If you don't, the first step is to find out whether your municipality and your building allow it.
- Your return depends more on the price of each night, the listing and your costs than on occupancy.
- You can manage it yourself if you live nearby and have the time; if not, a company takes care of everything in exchange for a percentage.
1. Can your property be a holiday home?
It depends mainly on three things: what your municipality's planning rules say, the age and type of the property, and your homeowners' association. Ley 6/2025 only allows tourist use where the planning rules expressly permit it (art. 3.3), requires the property to be at least 10 years old on the main islands (art. 5.1.a) and suspends new authorisations in areas declared stressed residential markets (art. 5.1.b).
We explain it step by step in can you still get a holiday rental licence today?. If your home is in a building with a homeowners' association, also read what your association can decide.
2. If you already have a licence
Holiday homes authorised before the law can keep operating for a 5-year transitional period, with the option of asking the cabildo for a single extension in certain cases (DT 2ª Ley 6/2025, the second transitional provision). If you are both the owner and the operator, there is also the declaration of established tourist use (uso turístico consolidado) filed with the town hall (DT 1ª). These are decisions with long-term consequences: it's best to make them with the official text in front of you and, if needed, with a lawyer. We summarise them in what changes if you already have a licence.
3. Day-to-day obligations
- Guest registration: report each guest's details to the Ministry of the Interior immediately and within 24 hours at the latest (art. 6.3 RD 933/2021). Details in guest registration.
- Registration number in listings: compulsory in any advert for the property (art. 8.6 Ley 6/2025). Airbnb has required it for new listings in the Canary Islands since April 2025.
- Living alongside neighbours: clear house rules and respect for the building's rules.
- Tax: the income is taxable; how depends on your situation. Check with a tax adviser.
4. How much it can earn
In June 2026, according to Promotur, the average price per night for holiday homes was €116.22 in Gran Canaria, €165.48 in Lanzarote and €118.26 in Fuerteventura. These are one-month averages across very different properties: they help you understand the market, not work out what yours will earn. You'll find the figures by island and municipality in the Observatory, and how to turn them into income in how much a holiday home in Gran Canaria can earn.
What really matters is what you keep: what the guest pays minus the platform commission, cleaning, management and fixed costs. We work it through with an example in real return, and in holiday or long-term let you can compare it with a long-term tenancy.
5. Pricing and channels
The price of each night should move with demand: season, booking window, events, occupancy in the area and gaps in the calendar. This is what's known as dynamic pricing. As for channels, the usual approach is to list on Booking.com and Airbnb at the same time, with a synchronised calendar; the differences between the two are covered in Booking.com or Airbnb.
In our experience, the most expensive mistake isn't choosing one channel over another, but keeping a fixed price all year: it's too low on the busiest dates and too high on the quiet ones.
6. Day-to-day running
Every booking involves messages, an arrival, cleaning, a check and, sometimes, a breakdown. Self check-in with a key box or smart lock, cleaning that is checked after every departure and trusted tradespeople for the air conditioning or hot water are what separate a home with good reviews from one with problems.
7. You or a company?
If you live nearby and have the time, you can run it yourself. If you live elsewhere or don't want to be on call, a management company takes care of everything in exchange for a percentage. We help you decide in manage it yourself or use a company and how to choose a management company. If you already have a manager and aren't happy, see how to switch without losing bookings; if you live far away, how remote management works.
At Canarias Prime Homes we charge 20% of the management base (what the guest pays minus the platform commission and cleaning), with no set-up fee and no minimum term. Full details are in fees and terms.
General information, updated on 5 October 2026. It is not a substitute for advice from a lawyer.
Sources
- Ley 6/2025, de 10 de diciembre, de ordenación sostenible del uso turístico de viviendas (the Canary Islands law on the sustainable regulation of the tourist use of homes): text in the BOE. Amended by Ley 7/2026, de 31 de julio: BOE entry (the consolidated text does not yet include the amendment).
- Real Decreto 933/2021 (guest registration): text in the BOE.
- Promotur Turismo de Canarias, holiday home indicators, June 2026 (in Spanish).
- Airbnb and the Government of the Canary Islands, agreement of 4 April 2025.