How much your tourist license (VUT / HUTL) and how to rent without selling

The tourist license isn't just a paper

For years, the tourist license - VUT, VUC, HUTL or the name you get according to the community independent - was treated as a mere administrative procedure: a requirement for proclaiming housing at Airbnb or Booking, with no more value than enabling the business. That's different. At cities where municipalities have closed the door to new licenses, the license you have already and became an asset: a low operating right, that cannot be replicate buying another place in the same area.

That shortage translates into a very concrete effect on prices: in neighborhoods with moratorium currently, a house with a regular tourist license is sold above an equivalent without Her. The buyer does not only pay for the property but also pays for immediate access to a business that another way would take years - or directly I couldn't - to put them into operation.

That's why leave's low, town by town.

The cause of this shortage are the moratoriums and restrictions that several municipalities have been approving to stop the growth of tourism housing in high-pressure areas:

• Madrid capital implements the Special Hostiage Plan, which limits new licences in the Centre District and ZPAE (Special Sound Protection Areas).
• Barcelona town It keeps a moratorium of new licences valid from 2015 and the town council has also announced the extinction of all HutL at 2028, without renewal. That is the most extreme case in the country: new licences are closed and currently existing licences have an established expiry date. We developed it with details at What to do with your HUTL before 2028.
• Palma, Valencia and San Sebastian have moratoriums or boundaries by neighborhood that restrict the entry of new licences with different degree of intensity by area.

With the passing of time and without re-licensing, every VUT or HUTL valid in these cities will be valid more, no less. It's the basic mechanism for any low asset: demand for tourist housing The law remains but the offer of licences does not grow.

The extreme case: Barcelona and the extinction of HUTL at 2028

Barcelona concentrates both pressures at once: moratorium from 2015 and date of extinction announced for 2028. The result is a market where the current HUTL has a resale value significantly above an equivalent housing without a license, precisely because The buyer knows that this right of operation has a known time window and, while it lasts, There's a way to get an equal one by processing a new license. as an indicative estimate of market, that bonus usually moves between 20.000 € and 60.000 € about a comparable housing without a license, by neighborhood and state of the property.

The closer 2028 approaches, it's reasonable to expect that bonus to be reduced, because to the buyer He's been with fewer years of tourist activity ahead of him. That's why, if the an owner with HUTL in Barcelona is selling at some point, before they are more valid than after.

Three ways to rent without selling

Selling isn't the only way to get a bad license. If you're not in a hurry to get killed housing, there are three ways to generate income while keeping it:

1. Just blow up.

They manage the announcement, prices and daily operations, and you get the gross income less platform commission (15-18% at Airbnb or Booking). That's the best potential income option at high season but requires time, availability and alone assume exposure to reform That's what we're talking about.

2. Percentage management

To an integrated management with an income ratio - 18-25% of mean Spanish market Bliss Homes cobra 17% + VAT- and you keep charging at function of actual occupation, without you have to manage the day after day. That's an intermediate choice: less jobs that you exploit, more potential income than fixed income.

3. Fixed rental (guaranteed rental)

They give up the production for a monthly fixed incomeusually between 60% and 75% residential market rental from the area with contract of 1 year renewable. That's the only one of the three ways that doesn't require anything from you and the only one that's left. and beyond the fiscal reform currently under way: the operator became the manager and she assume any normative changes to the tourist business while your rent remains fixed. Can you see the complete details of the model at guaranteed rental guide for owners.

If you have an advanced license, this is also the fastest way: we have to wait for them. administrative decision, just sign the lease and start charging. We explain with more details about I have a tourist license and I don't want to manage.

What devalues your license

Just as there are factors that re-value a tourist license, there are others that devalue or put them at risk his continuity. They should be closely monitored:

• Penalties - and in serious or repeated cases, the autonomous authorities may suspend the licence as a result of non-compliance with them, such as to declare without a visible registration number, to exceed their stated capacity or to breach their living conditions. Serious and complete management protects long term assets.
• Prolonged inactivity - according to the autonomous regulations of each community, leave the license without activity for a long time can complicate its renewal or result in review. In addition to the normative risk, every unexploded month is lost income while continuing to pay IBI, community and supplies.
• Operating under market - an ill-run license with low announcement, prices without optimization or low occupation does not give the value that it could, even if paper remains valid. The actual value of the licence can be shown to be well exploited, not just with it.
• Non-compliance with autonomous regulations - each community regulates licence maintenance requirements (minimum activity, data update, inspections). Failure to fulfill them is the most direct way to lose the asset.

When to sell and how to get the license

If your priority is immediate liquidity, selling takes advantage of the bonus that the license provides today - and, with an extinction date such as Barcelona, that premium tends to be reduced with time, so earlier It's usually worth more than after. If you aren't in a hurry, keep housing and rent it while decide the best time of sale generates recurrent income without giving up future revaluation from the area. Fixed income fits especially well in this intermediate scenario: you press the asset without work and retain an option to sell as appropriate with an exit by sale clause entered into the contract.

If your home's in a specific area and you want to see fixed income figure by location, we have and Madrid centre, Málaga capital and Barcelona.

Related Lessons

• Fully guaranteed rental guide for owners (hub)
• I have a tourist license and I don't want to manage: your 4 options
• Hutl in Barcelona: what to do with your license before 2028
• VAT from 21% to tourist flats: What To Do
• guaranteed rental vs integrated management vs. Airbnb: 2026 comparative

Hector Clarke

Fundador de Bliss Homes. Operamos viviendas turísticas en 8 comunidades autónomas —pisos, casas rurales y un edificio completo en Toledo—, seis de ellos alquilados con nuestro propio dinero. Meet the team →