If your property was already authorised as a holiday home when Ley 6/2025 came into force (13 December 2025), you can keep letting it, but now with a time limit: the law gives you five years, with a single possible extension, and opens up the option of established tourist use (uso turístico consolidado) through the town hall if you are both the owner and the holder of the authorisation. The law has already been amended by Ley 7/2026. Before deciding, check whose name the authorisation is in and gather evidence that the property has operated without interruption.
In short
- In force since 13/12/2025 and amended by Ley 7/2026 from 15/08/2026 (the BOE consolidated text does not yet reflect this).
- Homes already authorised: a five-year transitional period, which can be extended once by up to five more (DT 2ª).
- Owners who are also the holder, with more than a year of uninterrupted operation before the law: can declare established tourist use with the town hall (DT 1ª).
- Registration number in every listing (art. 8.6).
- Get your paperwork in order now and speak to a lawyer before choosing a route.
What Ley 6/2025 is and which dates matter
Ley 6/2025, de 10 de diciembre, de ordenación sostenible del uso turístico de viviendas (on the sustainable regulation of the tourist use of homes) is the new Canary Islands holiday rental law: where you can let to tourists, under what requirements, for how long and what happens to homes that were already operating. It was published in the BOC (the Canary Islands Official Gazette) no. 246 on 12/12/2025 and came into force the following day (DF 5ª).
A reform followed in summer 2026. Ley 7/2026, de 31 de julio, changed articles 4, 7 and 9, DA 3ª, DT 1ª and 7ª and DF 3ª; it added articles 11 and 12 and a new DT 10ª, and removed DT 6ª. Be careful here: if you look the law up in the BOE (Spain's Official State Gazette), the consolidated text does not yet include those changes. For the current wording you also need to read Ley 7/2026 in BOC no. 163.
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| 13/12/2025 | Ley 6/2025 comes into force (DF 5ª) |
| 15/08/2026 | Ley 7/2026, which amends it, comes into force (DF 11ª) |
| 31/07/2027 | Deadline for filing the prior notification for classified activities, if it wasn't filed at the time (DT 10ª) |
What the law says if your home is already authorised
Everyone says "licence", but the law talks about authorisation (habilitación), obtained through a declaración responsable (responsible declaration). For those who already had one, there are several routes.
Five years to carry on (DT 2ª)
Homes that are already authorised can keep operating for a five-year transitional period (DT 2ª). There is a detail worth reading twice: if the home is operated by a person or company other than the owner, the authorisation ends when that operating contract ends (DT 2ª).
A single extension of up to five more years (DT 2ª)
You can ask the cabildo (island council) for an extension of up to five more years. There is only one, and you have to justify it: you must show that the transitional period does not make up for the loss of the authorisation. The application must be made within the first four years, and if the cabildo does not reply within six months it is deemed refused (DT 2ª).
Don't leave it until the end: prepare the justification in good time and with a lawyer.
Up to 20 years in exchange for long-term lets (DT 3ª)
DT 3ª allows you to carry on for up to 20 years in exchange for putting homes on long-term rental. Check its conditions with a lawyer before relying on it.
Established tourist use (DT 1ª)
This is the route for those who want to carry on in the long term: filing a declaración responsable of established tourist use with the town hall, not the cabildo, within the five-year period (DT 1ª). To qualify you must:
- be both the owner of the property and the holder of the authorisation;
- show effective, uninterrupted operation for more than a year before the law came into force;
- accept that, while it lasts, the property cannot be used as a residence;
- have the cabildo's report, which is binding if it is unfavourable.
In return, the property is exempt from the time limit in art. 10. Established use is lost in several situations, including the sale of the property. Following Ley 7/2026, if the property is inherited, the heir can carry on for up to ten years (DT 1ª). This provision is one of those changed by the reform, so don't rely on the BOE consolidated text for it.
| Route | What it allows | Main requirements |
|---|---|---|
| Transitional period (DT 2ª) | Carry on for five years | Holding the authorisation. If a third party operates it, it ends with their contract |
| Extension (DT 2ª) | Up to five more years, once only | Apply to the cabildo within the first four years and show that the period does not make up for the loss of the authorisation |
| Long-term rental (DT 3ª) | Up to 20 years | Put homes on long-term rental, under the conditions in DT 3ª |
| Established tourist use (DT 1ª) | Carry on without the art. 10 limit | Declaration to the town hall; be owner and holder; more than a year of uninterrupted operation before the law; lost on sale |
Renewing declarations (art. 10)
Each declaración responsable is valid for five years, or ten in El Hierro, La Gomera, La Palma and municipalities facing depopulation (reto demográfico). It is renewed with a new declaration in the month before it expires, provided the area is still suitable, has not been declared a stressed market and there is a favourable municipal certificate. If it isn't renewed, the deregistration is permanent (art. 10).
Registration number in every listing (art. 8.6)
Any advert for the property, whether on Booking.com, Airbnb or your own website, must show the registration number (art. 8.6). Advertising without it is a very serious offence (art. 75 Ley 7/1995).
Penalties
Continuing to operate a home whose authorisation has ended is a serious offence, with fines of €15,000 to €150,000 (art. 383.3 Ley 4/2017, as applied by DF 2ª of Ley 6/2025). More generally, Ley 7/1995 sets fines of up to €1,500 for minor offences, €1,501 to €30,000 for serious ones and €30,001 to €300,000 for very serious ones (art. 79).
Prior notification for classified activities (DT 10ª)
This is new with Ley 7/2026. If you declared the home before the law without filing the comunicación previa de actividades clasificadas (prior notification for classified activities), you have until 31/07/2027 to file it; if you don't, you must stop operating (DT 10ª).
What it means for you
The law starts a clock ticking, and the right route depends on your case:
The authorisation is in your name and you are the owner. Say, a bungalow in Maspalomas that you've been letting for years. All the routes are open to you, including established use, if you can show uninterrupted operation.
The authorisation is in the name of an operator or a previous manager. For example, a flat in Playa del Inglés that a company registered. If someone other than the owner operates it, the transitional period ends with that contract (DT 2ª), and established use requires you to be both owner and holder (DT 1ª). Clear this up before anything else; if you're thinking of switching managers, talk it over with your lawyer first.
You plan to sell or leave it as an inheritance. Established use is lost on sale, so the buyer does not get it; following Ley 7/2026, an heir can carry on for up to ten years (DT 1ª).
The property was out of use for a while. If there were months without activity, during a refurbishment for example, ask a lawyer how this affects the uninterrupted operation requirement.
In our experience, it's quite common for owners not to be sure whose name the authorisation is in, especially when a previous manager registered the property. It's quick to check and it changes your options a great deal.
What to do now
- Find the registration number and the authorisation documents.
- Check whose name it is in (yours, a company's, an operator's, a previous manager's) and whether that matches the owner.
- Note the dates that apply to you: the end of the transitional period and the end of the first four years for requesting the extension.
- Gather evidence of continuous operation: booking history, platform payout statements, invoices, guest registration submissions and tax returns.
- Check whether you filed the prior notification for classified activities. If not, the deadline is 31/07/2027 (DT 10ª).
- Make sure all your listings show the registration number (art. 8.6). Town halls and cabildos must approve inspection plans for existing homes (DA 2ª), so it's wise to have everything in order.
- Speak to a lawyer before choosing a route: each has different consequences (established use, for example, rules out residential use while it lasts).
How we can help
Canarias Prime Homes is not a law firm. We can help you organise the property's documents and history and work with your lawyer. In the homes we manage, the listings stay in your own accounts and we register guests in the official system, so the activity history is available to you.
If you want to register a new holiday home, read whether you can still get a new licence today; if the question is about your neighbours, see what the homeowners' association can decide.
General information, updated on 5 October 2026. It is not a substitute for advice from a lawyer.
Sources and notes
- Ley 6/2025, de 10 de diciembre, de ordenación sostenible del uso turístico de viviendas: consolidated text in the BOE (BOC no. 246 of 12/12/2025; BOE no. 308 of 23/12/2025). At the date of this guide it does not include the 2026 reform.
- Ley 7/2026, de 31 de julio, amending Ley 6/2025: BOC no. 163 of 14/08/2026 (PDF, pp. 47-65) and BOE entry.
- Penalties: Ley 4/2017, art. 383.3 (read with DF 2ª of Ley 6/2025), and Ley 7/1995, arts. 75 and 79.
- Observations marked "in our experience" come from our day-to-day work with owners; they are not statistics.