Check the tourist licence before you buy, not after

The short-let case is seductive because the arithmetic is genuinely better when it works. Nightly rates in a coastal town in August are a multiple of the monthly rent divided by thirty.

It only works if you can let the flat that way, and in a growing share of Spain you cannot. That is a question to answer before the offer, not after the deed.

The autonomous community runs the tourist register: the licence itself, its conditions, and whether it is issuing new ones at all. Several regions and cities have closed or capped theirs in specific zones.

The town hall controls planning and local rules, which can restrict tourist use by building type, by floor, or by neighbourhood quota.

And the community of owners can prohibit it in the building. Since the 2019 reform a qualified majority can restrict tourist letting, and many buildings have voted to. A licence from the region does not override a valid prohibition in the statutes.

Less than it sounds, and it depends on the region. A licence attached to the property may transfer with it, or may lapse on sale and need reapplying for under current rules, which is a problem exactly where the register is now closed.

It is a documentary question with a specific answer for that flat, and it is the kind of thing to have confirmed in writing before completion rather than assumed from a listing.

The useful discipline is to price the purchase on the long-term let, and treat the short-let upside as an option you might not get to exercise. If the flat only makes sense with a licence, the licence has to be certain before you commit.

The tax side changes too: a short-let is a different letting activity with different deductions and, for a resident, no access to the long-term residential reduction. It is not the same number with more months in it.

Ask three questions and get three documents: does the region still register new tourist lets in this municipality, does the building prohibit it in the statutes, and does the licence on this flat survive a sale.

Check what applies where you are buying, then run the flat on both scenarios and see whether the case survives without the licence.