Málaga has become the largest city on the Costa del Sol to freeze new tourist accommodation. On 16 July 2026 the city council gave final approval to a three-year moratorium that stops new holiday-rental (VUT), tourist-apartment, hostel and hotel licences on land zoned for housing — across the entire municipality.
This affects the tourist licence (VUT) — the permit to let a property short-term to holidaymakers. It does not touch your right to live in the home, keep it as a second residence, sell it, or rent it long-term to a resident tenant. Those uses are never part of the tourist-licence regime. If you are buying to use or to let long-term, nothing here restricts you.
What Málaga actually approved
The three-year moratorium blocks any new short-term tourist licence on residentially-zoned land, citywide. It formalises a pause that began in August 2025, when Málaga first closed 43 saturated neighbourhoods where tourist housing already exceeded 8% of the local stock. The city has also rewritten its General Urban Plan (PGOU) to remove tourist accommodation as a "compatible and alternative use" on residential plots: new tourist projects no longer get automatic approval and must now prove a wider public benefit. Crucially, existing licences keep operating and applications already filed continue to be processed — the freeze blocks new openings, it does not close current ones. The Andalucian High Court has held that limits like these are lawful where housing is under pressure.
VUT is not the same as renting out your own home
This distinction is where most buyers get confused, so it is worth stating plainly. A VUT (vivienda de uso turístico) is a specific, licensed activity: renting a whole property to tourists for short stays, marketed on platforms like Airbnb or Booking. That is what Málaga is restricting.
- Always allowed: living in the property yourself, using it as a second home, or letting it long-term to a resident tenant under a standard LAU rental contract. No tourist licence is involved and no moratorium applies.
- Restricted: obtaining a new tourist licence to run short holiday lets in the affected zones. Where the zone is closed, that activity simply cannot be started.
So a purchase in Málaga is not "blocked" — only one particular income model, short-term tourist letting, is being capped in the city.
Two national layers most buyers miss
Even in towns that still issue tourist licences, two country-wide rules now sit on top of the local ones:
- National registry (since July 2025). Every tourist rental needs a national registration number (NRUA) in addition to its regional VUT. Listings on Airbnb or Booking without it are automatically delisted.
- The building can veto it (since April 2025). A reform of the Horizontal Property Law lets a community of owners approve or refuse new tourist rentals by a 60% double majority. A building that has voted against them can block — and legally demand the closure of — new holiday lets, even where the town allows them.
The practical takeaway: confirm the town, the specific zone, and the community's stance before you count on tourist-rental income.
Where you can still get a licence on the Costa del Sol
Málaga city is not the coast. The towns where most international buyers actually purchase set their own rules, and the picture is very different:
- Marbella — no blanket cap. New applications remain possible where neighbourhood-association and council conditions are met.
- Estepona, Fuengirola, Benalmádena, Torremolinos — most continue to accept new short-term-rental applications.
- Manilva — has adopted its own three-year moratorium, mirroring Málaga city.
The direction of travel is clearly towards tighter control, so the window for a new licence in the prime towns is open but not guaranteed to stay that way. That scarcity also cuts the other way: a property that already holds a valid, transferable tourist licence is becoming a more valuable — and less reproducible — asset.
What buyers should do in 2026
- Match the property to your real plan. Lifestyle, second home or long-term let? None of these are affected. Only short-term tourist letting depends on the licence rules.
- If tourist income matters, buy the licence, not just the flat. A tourist licence does not transfer automatically at sale — the new owner files a fresh declaration, and in a closed zone that will not be granted. Ask for the current registry status before you commit.
- Check the community. Request the minutes of the owners' association to confirm short-term lets have not already been voted out of the building.
- Keep a fallback use. If the licence cannot follow the sale, does the property still work as a long-term let or a home for you? On a well-located Costa del Sol property, it usually does.
For the full framework on licences, taxes and declaring rental income across our regions, see our guide to renting out property in Spain. For the parallel restrictions on the east coast, see Valencia's 2% tourist-rental cap.
