Renting Out Your Canary Islands Property in 2026

Holiday, temporary or long-term: which rules apply?

LAU: Urban Leases Act (Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos), as worded by RDL 29/2026 (pending validation). IGIC: art. 50.Uno.23.º.b of Law 4/2012 of the Canary Islands.

Can you still run a holiday let?

Yes, if the property qualifies under Law 6/2025 of 10 December. Before the first guest arrives, the owner or the appointed operator files a responsible declaration (declaración responsable) with the Cabildo (island council), which registers the activity in the Canary Islands General Tourism Register (art. 7.1). You can start letting on the day you file the complete declaration (art. 8.1), and the registration number must appear in every listing (art. 8.6). Registration is not approval: inspections and penalties can still follow (art. 8.2).

The declaration must come with a technical report including plans and photographs, a planning certificate (cédula urbanística) showing that planning rules expressly allow tourist use of that home and, in a building with a community of owners, a certificate from the community (art. 7.7).

As a rule, the home must also be at least ten years old, or five on El Hierro, La Gomera and La Palma and in municipalities facing depopulation (art. 5.1.a). Since 3 April 2025, an owner in such a building also needs the community's prior express approval, given by three-fifths of the owners holding three-fifths of the ownership shares (arts. 7.3 and 17.12 of the Horizontal Property Act). The firm's page on holiday rental licences in the Canary Islands covers the procedure.

Is a winter let of one to three months a holiday let?

No. Older English-language guides say a let of three months or more can be agreed on any terms. That has been out of date since RDL 29/2026 took effect on 8 October 2026 (pending validation). Tourist lets excluded from the LAU can never exceed 31 days (art. 5.e), and a temporary let must last over 31 days and, as a rule, no more than 12 months (art. 9 bis). A stay of 60 or 90 days is therefore, in principle, a residential lease.

For the let to count as temporary, the tenant must be away from their usual home for a justified and provable reason (art. 2.3 LAU). The contract must state that reason, and the burden of proving it lies with the landlord. Without it, the contract is treated as an ordinary residential lease from the day it was signed (art. 7.2), and the tenant can extend it year by year up to five years (art. 9.1).

The Act gives no list of reasons. A work posting, a course of study or medical treatment on the islands fit the wording most clearly. A retiree who spends the winter in Gran Canaria for the climate is a harder case: the Act does not make clear whether that is a "justified reason". If that is your typical tenant, the firm recommends having the contract reviewed before you sign.

Other rules for temporary lets:

• More than two consecutive temporary contracts with the same tenant for the same home, or a stay beyond 12 months without justification, turn the first contract into an ordinary residential lease (art. 9 bis LAU).
• The tenant can leave after one month with 10 days' notice, without compensation (art. 11 LAU).
• Seasonal contracts signed before 8 October 2026 keep the old regime until their agreed end date and then expire without extension; if renewed, they fall under the new rules (eighth transitional provision of the LAU).

Long-term lets: term, renewals and getting the home back

If the agreed term is under five years, or seven with a company landlord, the tenant can extend it year by year up to that minimum (art. 9.1 LAU). You can only take the home back early for yourself or a first-degree relative if you are an individual, the need was written into the contract and the first year has passed, with two months' notice (art. 9.3).

After the minimum term, the contract currently renews automatically year by year for up to three more years, unless the landlord gives four months' notice or the tenant two (art. 10.1 LAU). From 15 November 2026, if RDL 28/2026 is validated, renewals would run for five-year periods (seven for companies), the landlord would have to give 6 months' notice, and a landlord who chose not to renew would owe compensation of at least twelve monthly payments, calculated as the decree-law provides, unless one of its listed exceptions applied.

For contracts signed since 8 October 2026 (RDL 29/2026, pending validation):

• Agency and contract-formalisation costs cannot be passed on to the tenant, directly or indirectly (art. 20.2 LAU).
• IBI (local property tax) stays with you unless the tenant is the person legally liable for it (art. 20.1).
• Rent can only go up if the contract provides for it, and then by no more than the IRAV, the official index for annual rent reviews (art. 18.1). The decree-law's preamble also announces a lower cap on reviews until 31 December 2027: check it before applying any increase.
• If no check-out inventory is signed, or it records no damage, the home is presumed to have been returned in good condition unless proven otherwise (art. 36.7).

You also need a registered energy performance certificate (EPC): its rating must appear in every advertisement, and a copy of the label is attached to the contract (arts. 6.6, 15.2 and 17 of Royal Decree 390/2021).

Where does the tenant's deposit go?

In a long-term let, the tenant pays a statutory deposit (fianza) of 1 month's rent in cash (art. 36.1 LAU). The landlord must then lodge an equal amount with the Canary Islands government within 1 month of signing (arts. 2.1 and 2.3 of Law 2/2014 of the Canary Islands). It is paid into the Caja de Depósitos of the Canarian treasury and recorded in the deposit register attached to the Canary Islands Housing Institute (Instituto Canario de la Vivienda) (arts. 5 and 12).

The duty covers leases governed by the LAU, temporary lets included, even if the tenant paid no deposit or you waived it (art. 2). Failing to lodge it is a serious infringement, punishable by a fine of 35% to 100% of the unlodged deposits (art. 13). When the lease ends, you apply for the refund with proof that you returned the deposit to the tenant, or with a responsible declaration (art. 9).

How is your rental income taxed if you live abroad?

You pay non-resident income tax (IRNR):

• Residents of another EU state, or of an EEA state with effective exchange of tax information, pay 19% and can deduct expenses directly related to the income (arts. 24.6 and 25.1.a of the consolidated Non-Resident Income Tax Act).
• Everyone else, including UK residents, pays 24% on the gross rent (arts. 24.1 and 25.1.a).
• The tax reduction that resident landlords claim on residential lets does not apply to non-residents, according to the Central Economic-Administrative Tribunal (TEAC, resolution RG 00/01093/2021 of 20 March 2024).

Rent is declared on Form 210 (modelo 210). Under Order HAC/623/2026, if there is tax to pay, you file once a year, from 1 to 20 April of the following year. For separate returns (declaración separada), this applies to rent earned from the fourth quarter of 2026, so rent for October to December 2026 is declared from 1 to 20 April 2027.

The Canary Islands have IGIC instead of VAT (art. 3.Dos.1.º.b of the VAT Act), so the 10% VAT that RDL 29/2026 (pending validation) places on stays of 30 nights or fewer from 1 December 2026 does not apply here. How your home country taxes the same income depends on its tax treaty with Spain: see the firm's guide to rental income tax for non-residents.

What happens if the tenant stops paying?

The firm's landlord guide to unpaid rent covers the process in detail. In outline:

1. Demand payment by burofax (a certified letter with proof of content). If you demand payment in a way you can prove at least 30 days before filing and the tenant does not pay, the tenant can no longer halt the eviction by paying the arrears (enervación) (art. 22.4 of the Civil Procedure Act, LEC), subject to the vulnerability rule below.
2. Try to settle. Eviction for non-payment is not exempt from the prior out-of-court settlement attempt (MASC) required by art. 5 of Organic Law 1/2025; the guide explains which offers courts have accepted.
3. File the claim with the Tribunal de Instancia (first-instance court). The court clerk gives the tenant 10 days to leave, pay or oppose, and the same order sets the hearing and eviction dates (art. 438.5 LEC).

The "eviction ban until 2030" reported in the foreign press is not a general ban. Until 31 December 2030, Article 2 of RDL 29/2026 (pending validation) allows evictions of vulnerable tenants with no alternative housing to be suspended: for most landlords, for three years at most, and with capped compensation from the authorities if the landlord is an individual. It does not apply where the landlord is an individual who owns two homes or fewer.

Separately, if the tenant proves economic vulnerability, the authorities have 2 months to offer alternative housing or pay the debt and costs, and the case is suspended meanwhile. If they do neither, they take over the debt and there is no eviction, even if you sent the burofax (art. 22.6 LEC, added by the same decree-law).

No one can promise an eviction date: it depends on the court's workload, on whether the tenant opposes and on these rules. You can insure yourself against unpaid rent, but you cannot make the tenant take out or pay for that cover (art. 36.5 LAU, as worded by RDL 29/2026).

Do you need an NIE and a Spanish bank account?

You need a Spanish tax identification number to declare the rent (art. 18.1 of Royal Decree 1065/2007): for a foreign national, the NIE (art. 20.1) or, if you are not required to hold one, a number beginning with M issued by the Tax Agency (art. 20.2). The steps are in the firm's NIE guide.

Since RDL 29/2026 (pending validation), rent must be paid by electronic means, with cash only as an exception (art. 17.3 LAU). The Act does not say the account must be Spanish.

What does lawyer-run property management cost?

The firm's published fees are 8% to 12% of the monthly rent for a long-term let and 15% to 25% of income for a holiday let, depending on the property and the services; the initial assessment is free and, if the tenant stops paying, the claim and the eviction are included at no additional fee from the firm. Management fees are subject to IGIC at the general rate of 7% (art. 51.1.d of Law 4/2012 of the Canary Islands), and you cannot pass them on to the tenant (art. 20.2 LAU).

Including the claim and the eviction covers the work, not the outcome.

How the firm can help

ALY Abogados & Administradores, led by Lázaro Héctor Amable Méndez (lawyer, ICALPA Bar No. 5.231, property administrator and insolvency administrator), drafts the contract, lodges the deposit, files Form 210 for non-resident owners and, if needed, brings the eviction claim. See rental management in the Canary Islands for the full service, or request an appointment and the firm will propose a date and time.

Sources

• Urban Leases Act (LAU), Law 29/1994: BOE-A-1994-26003
• Royal Decree-Law 29/2026, of 6 October: BOE-A-2026-20823
• Royal Decree-Law 28/2026, of 6 October: BOE-A-2026-20822
• Law 6/2025, of 10 December, of the Canary Islands: BOE-A-2025-26358
• Horizontal Property Act, Law 49/1960: BOE-A-1960-10906
• Law 2/2014, of 20 June, of the Canary Islands (deposits): BOE-A-2014-7325
• Non-Resident Income Tax Act, Royal Legislative Decree 5/2004: BOE-A-2004-4527
• Order EHA/3316/2010 (Form 210), as amended by Order HAC/623/2026: BOE-A-2010-19707 and BOE-A-2026-13573
• Law 4/2012, of 25 June, of the Canary Islands (IGIC): BOE-A-2012-9282
• VAT Act, Law 37/1992: BOE-A-1992-28740
• Civil Procedure Act, Law 1/2000: BOE-A-2000-323
• Organic Law 1/2025, of 2 January: BOE-A-2025-76
• Royal Decree 390/2021: BOE-A-2021-9176
• Royal Decree 1065/2007: BOE-A-2007-15984
• Royal Decree 1312/2024: BOE-A-2024-26931; Supreme Court ruling of 19 May 2026 (ECLI:ES:TS:2026:2148), operative part in BOE-A-2026-12300
• TEAC, resolution RG 00/01093/2021, of 20 March 2024