If you own a holiday property in Málaga and want to rent it out short-term legally, you need a VUT (Vivienda con Fines Turísticos) licence. This is the 2026 owner's guide — written from operational experience running rental management for Málaga properties through every step of the application.
What a VUT actually is
A VUT is a licence granted by the Junta de Andalucía under Decreto 31/2024 that authorises a residential property for tourist short-term rental. Without it, you cannot legally list on Airbnb, Booking.com, VRBO or any platform, and you cannot register guests with the SES.HOSPEDAJES police-reporting system.
Three things to know up front:
- The VUT is per-property, not per-owner. Each property needs its own licence.
- It's granted by the regional government (Junta de Andalucía), not the municipal Ayuntamiento.
- Since July 2025, every VUT must also be cross-registered in the NRUA national rental register under Royal Decree 1312/2024.
How long the application takes
Important: Málaga municipality is operating a 3-year moratorium on new VUT licences as of 2026. The standard Junta de Andalucía declaración responsable process described below does not apply to new applications in Málaga municipality during the moratorium. Existing VUT licences from before the moratorium are grandfathered and continue normally. For new owners targeting short-let yield, adjacent municipalities such as Torremolinos and Rincón de la Victoria operate under the standard regime.
Where the standard process applies, the Junta de Andalucía declaración responsable typically processes in 1-5 working days for clean cases. The variable is rarely the paperwork — it's the prerequisites.
The community-of-owners prerequisite
Since the April 2025 amendment to the Ley de Propiedad Horizontal, any community building must hold a vote and reach a three-fifths majority in favour before any new VUT licence can be granted to a property in that building.
In Málaga, vote dynamics vary by sub-market. Operating a 3-year city-wide moratorium on new vut licences; existing licences are grandfathered; new owners targeting short-let yield need adjacent-municipality strategies.
For owners considering a Málaga property purchase, we always check the comunidad's meeting minutes for the building's current vote position before the offer goes in. Buying a property only to discover the comunidad voted prohibition six months earlier is a common and avoidable mistake.
NRUA cross-registration
Since July 2025, every active VUT property must also hold an NRUA registration number. Without it, the booking platforms now block listings. Airbnb, Booking.com and VRBO all check NRUA at listing time.
NRUA is a national register, not Andalusian. The application is straightforward but requires the VUT licence number first. We handle both at onboarding — they're part of the management package, not charged separately.
Annual N2 filing
Once your VUT is active, you have one annual obligation: the Modelo N2 declaration, filed with the Junta de Andalucía each February for the previous year. The N2 is short — it confirms the property's rental status and basic tourism statistics — but missing the deadline triggers municipal fines that compound.
We prepare the N2 alongside monthly statements through the year so the data is ready when February comes. The filing itself is quoted separately at onboarding.
Practical timeline for a Málaga owner
For a property where the comunidad has already voted favourably (or where the property is an individual freehold villa with no community vote required):
- Day 0: VUT application submitted
- Days 1-5: Junta de Andalucía declaración responsable approved
- Days 5-10: NRUA cross-registration filed and approved
- Day 10-onwards: Property eligible for platform listings
For properties where the comunidad vote is still pending or hasn't occurred recently, the timeline depends on when the next comunidad meeting is scheduled. We assist owners through that process where helpful, but the meeting itself isn't something an external manager can accelerate.
Working with us on a Málaga VUT
Glaser Group handles VUT and NRUA licensing as part of every management agreement. If you're unsure whether your Málaga building has voted favourably, or whether your existing licence is grandfathered correctly, we can check the comunidad minutes and the Junta records on your behalf during the discovery call.
