Is the NRUA still mandatory for a holiday let in Alhaurín el Grande? No. Spain's Supreme Court annulled the national register in May 2026 in rulings 620/2026 and 629/2026, so you do not need that number. A Vivienda de Uso Turístico (VUT) in this inland Costa del Sol town still needs three things. It must be registered in the Registro de Turismo de Andalucía under Decreto 31/2024. It needs community approval where the property sits in a community. Every guest must be registered with SES.HOSPEDAJES.
Is the NRUA still mandatory? What the May 2026 rulings mean in Alhaurín el Grande
The national register is gone as a legal requirement. The Tribunal Supremo's administrative chamber (Sala de lo Contencioso-Administrativo) annulled the register in May 2026. The first judgment was ruling 620/2026, and ruling 629/2026 followed. Those rulings struck down the royal decree that created the Registro Único de Arrendamientos (NRUA), Real Decreto 1312/2024. An owner in Alhaurín el Grande no longer has to apply for an NRUA number, renew one or wait for one before letting.
The rulings removed one layer and left the others in place. The Andalusian registration, the community-law rules and the national guest-registration system all have their own legal basis. None of them came from Real Decreto 1312/2024, so none of them fell with it. An owner who hears "the register was cancelled" and stops all paperwork would be exposed on every obligation that still applies.
An NRUA number you obtained before the rulings no longer reflects a live requirement. We advise owners not to build any part of their compliance around it. The number that matters for a holiday let in Alhaurín el Grande is the one issued by the Junta de Andalucía. This post covers only what is final. Anything still under discussion in Madrid is left out until it becomes law.
Letting between your own stays still needs RTA registration under Decreto 31/2024
Part-year letting is still letting. Many owners in Alhaurín el Grande are British or Belgian and spend part of the year in the house themselves. Some let it for a few weeks in spring, a stretch in summer and occasional autumn weeks. Under Decreto 31/2024 of the Junta de Andalucía, a property offered to tourists as a VUT must be registered in the Registro de Turismo de Andalucía (RTA). This applies however many weeks you let it. Letting only around your own visits does not take the property outside that framework.
Keep the registration alive through your own stays. You do not need to switch the RTA record on and off when you fly in from Brussels or Bristol. The record describes the property as a tourist let, and it stays valid while that remains true. The risk works the other way. An owner who cancels the registration during a year at home and applies again later may find the property treated as a new tourist use. Since 3 April 2025, a new tourist use in a building under horizontal property needs community approval. Check with us before you cancel anything.
Keep the record accurate. If ownership changes through an inheritance or a sale between family members, the details in the RTA should change with it. The same applies to a new contact person in Spain or a change in how many guests the house sleeps. A record that no longer matches the property is the first thing a check will find.
The RTA number is the one your listings should carry. Use the same number, in the same format, on every channel and in your own advertising. Our VUT licence page explains how we handle the registration for owners who live abroad. Our owner information page explains how the work is split between you and us.
Townhouse, hillside villa or finca: where 3/5 community approval applies
Community approval depends on the legal structure of your property, not on the town. Ley Orgánica 1/2025 amended article 17.12 of the Ley de Propiedad Horizontal, with effect from 3 April 2025. A new tourist use in a property within a community of owners (comunidad de propietarios) now needs the community's express approval. That approval needs 3/5 of the owners and 3/5 of the participation quotas. The full text is in the Boletín Oficial del Estado. The rule is not retroactive. It is an approval requirement, not a ban on letting.
A casco townhouse is often outside the rule. Many of the older houses in the streets around the Plaza Alta, the Plaza Baja and the Iglesia de la Encarnación are single properties on their own plot, with no community of owners. In that case there is no community to vote. The exception is a townhouse that has been divided into separate flats, each with its own registry entry. That building sits under horizontal property and the rule applies to a new tourist use.
A hillside villa depends on what surrounds it. A detached villa on an independent plot has no community vote to win. A villa that shares a road, a pool or gardens with neighbouring houses may belong to a community of owners or a similar structure. Then the vote can apply. Owners are sometimes unsure which applies, and the paperwork usually settles it.
A rural finca is usually standalone, but check it. Most fincas around Alhaurín el Grande are single rural properties with no community. Some have been split, or share access and water with neighbouring plots under formal arrangements. If part of a finca was built without a permit, raise it early. Every registration rests on the property's legal status, and an irregular building creates problems long before any guest arrives.
You can confirm which category you are in from the escritura and the land registry extract (nota simple). If the property is in a community, the community statutes and the administrator tell you more. Where approval is needed, the community has to put it on a general meeting agenda and carry both majorities. A VUT that was already lawfully operating before 3 April 2025 is not affected by the change.
Golfers, Spanish summer families and Día del Tomate week: registering guests with SES.HOSPEDAJES
Guest registration survived the NRUA rulings because it has its own legal basis. Real Decreto 933/2021 requires anyone who provides holiday accommodation to record traveller data. That data goes to the Ministry of the Interior through the SES.HOSPEDAJES platform. The duty applies to every stay, short or long, and every repeat booking is registered again.
Golf guests from autumn to spring are often small groups of friends. Two or three couples share a villa near a course, or a group of men books a week of rounds. Each traveller covered by the decree has to be registered, not just the person who paid. Collect identity details at booking, not at the door, because groups often arrive in separate cars at different times.
Spanish families fill the summer, and family bookings bring their own questions. Children travel with parents, grandparents join for part of the stay, and cousins arrive midweek. The decree asks for more than names. Set up your booking form so the full party is captured before arrival, including anyone who joins later.
Día del Tomate week in August creates a short, busy window. The fiesta brings visitors for a few nights, often booked late, with fast turnovers between stays. That is when registration gets missed: a Saturday arrival and a Sunday departure, with the owner abroad and the cleaner focused on the changeover. Decide in advance who submits each stay to SES.HOSPEDAJES and how quickly it happens.
The duty sits with the accommodation provider. If you live in Belgium or the UK for most of the year, the stays still have to be registered. You either do it yourself remotely or hand it to a manager in writing. Glaser Holiday Homes, holiday-rental management in Arroyo de la Miel, Benalmádena, includes this in the services we offer inland owners.
What platforms must still report under EU Regulation 2024/1028
The European rules on short-term rental data were never part of the Spanish decree, so the Supreme Court did not touch them. EU Regulation 2024/1028 is a regulation, which means it applies directly in every member state. It requires online platforms to share data on short-term rental activity with the competent authorities through a single digital entry point. In Spain this is the digital single window. Where a registration procedure exists, platforms must also make sure the host's registration number is shown on the listing.
In Andalucía, the registration procedure that exists is the RTA. The number a guest sees on your listing should be your RTA registration number from Decreto 31/2024. The data that flows from platforms to the authorities is checked against official records. Because the data now flows automatically, a mismatch between your listing and the Junta's record becomes visible.
Platform screens change, and owners should not rely on what a form happens to ask for on a given day. Ask yourself one practical question for each listing: does the number shown match your RTA record exactly? If you are unsure which number to enter, check before you save the listing, not after a guest or an authority asks.
A checklist for Alhaurín el Grande owners who split the year between here and home
Start with the registration that matters. Find your RTA registration number and confirm the record is current. Check the owner names, the contact details and the capacity. If you obtained an NRUA number in the past, stop treating it as a requirement, and do not cancel your RTA registration just because you plan a long stay of your own.
Next, settle the community question once. Look at your escritura and nota simple to see whether your townhouse, villa or finca sits under horizontal property. If it does, find out whether a tourist use was already in place before 3 April 2025 or whether 3/5 approval of owners and quotas is needed. File the answer with your property documents so you do not have to work it out again each season.
Then decide who registers guests. Write down who submits each stay to SES.HOSPEDAJES when you are away, how guest details are collected for golf groups and summer families, and what happens during Día del Tomate week. If you are not in Spain, someone here has to own this task.
After that, line up your listings. Each channel should show the same RTA number in the same format. With EU Regulation 2024/1028 data flowing to the authorities, consistency protects you.
Finally, keep tax separate from licensing. As a non-resident you declare Spanish rental income with Modelo 210. The rate is 19% for EU and EEA residents, with deductions, and 24% for others, including UK residents, without deductions. Your home-country side should be checked by your own tax adviser. Our rental income page explains how we report figures to owners who need them for both countries.
If you would like someone to go through this with you before you refresh your listings for the winter and the 2027 season, we can help. Book a free check of your licence and paperwork. We review your RTA record, your community position and your guest-registration setup, and tell you plainly what is in order and what needs attention.
Frequently asked questions
Does the annulment apply across all of Spain?
Yes. The national register was a state-level register, so the Supreme Court's annulment in rulings 620/2026 and 629/2026 applies across Spain. Regional obligations such as Andalucía's RTA registration under Decreto 31/2024 are separate and still apply.
What registration number do I show on Airbnb and Booking now?
For a holiday let in Alhaurín el Grande, show your Registro de Turismo de Andalucía (RTA) number under Decreto 31/2024. That is the registration procedure that applies in Andalucía, and it is the number EU Regulation 2024/1028 expects platforms to display.
Do Airbnb and Booking.com handle guest registration for me?
Do not assume so. Under Real Decreto 931/2021's successor rules in Real Decreto 933/2021, the duty to register guests with SES.HOSPEDAJES rests with whoever provides the accommodation. You either submit each stay yourself or agree in writing with a manager who does it for you.
Is there an Andalusian tourist tax on holiday lets?
No. There is no Andalusian tourist tax on holiday lets, so an Alhaurín el Grande owner has no regional tourist levy to charge or pay. Spanish tax on the rental income itself is declared separately, through Modelo 210 for non-residents.
Reviewed and approved by Maarten Glaser, founder of Glaser Group, on 26 October 2026. Glaser Holiday Homes is Glaser Group's holiday-rental management company, based in Arroyo de la Miel, Benalmádena.
