Alhaurín el Grande's settled British and Northern European expat community is roughly 30 years deep. Many of those long-term owners have rented their properties informally over the years, through friend-of-a-friend long-stays, neighbour referrals, occasional summer-let to relatives. Through 2010 and into the late-2010s, this informal pattern was common, low-friction, and largely below the regulatory radar.
That is no longer the case. The 2024 to 2025 regulatory wave changed the operational reality. If you own an Alhaurín el Grande property and you have been running on informal arrangements, this is what changed and what to do about it.
What changed
Two regulatory shifts that materially affect Alhaurín el Grande owners with informal rental arrangements.
1. The April 2025 LPH amendment requires a 3/5 community vote for new VUT applications in apartment buildings.
For Alhaurín el Grande owners considering VUT short-let licensing on apartments and townhouses in community buildings, the new VUT application pathway requires a positive 3/5 majority vote of the building's owners (comunidad de propietarios). For most established Alhaurín el Grande urbanizaciones, the comunidad position is permissive; for some smaller buildings and newer developments, it is restrictive or unclear.
The grandfathering provision: valid VUT licences issued before 3 April 2025 continue under the previous regime and do not need a community vote. New applications must go through the 3/5 vote process.
2. The Junta de Andalucía VUT regime under Decreto 31/2024.
The VUT licensing pathway itself runs through the Junta de Andalucía (regional government), not through the Alhaurín el Grande ayuntamiento. The application is a declaración responsable, typically processed in 1 to 5 working days for straightforward cases. The regional VUT is now the only registration platforms verify.
A brief note on the national NRUA register: the Número de Registro Único de Alquiler, introduced by Royal Decree 1312/2024 and briefly in force from 1 July 2025, was annulled by the Spanish Supreme Court in May 2026. It is no longer a requirement. Any NRUA number issued during the short period the register operated is effectively spent, and platform gates that referenced it have been removed. The regional VUT licence remains the registration that counts.
What this means for owners with informal arrangements
Three categories of Alhaurín el Grande owners have meaningfully different action paths.
A. Long-stay-only owners (1 to 12 month bookings, no short-let).
If you have been renting your Alhaurín el Grande property only on long-stay arrangements (1 to 12 month tenancies with British, Dutch, German pre-retiree tenants), the VUT framework does not directly apply. Long-stay rental falls under different Spanish law (LAU, Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos) and uses a different documentation pathway.
What you do need: properly-drafted long-stay rental contracts with deposit handling per Spanish law, fiscal compliance with non-resident-income-tax obligations (Modelo 210 quarterly for non-Spanish-resident owners, Modelo 100 for residents), and accurate cadastral and IBI records.
What you do not need: VUT or N2 filing.
B. Short-let-only owners (Airbnb, Booking.com, neighbour referrals processed casually).
If you have been short-letting informally through weekend stays, summer family weeks, Caminito del Rey cultural-stay travellers, you almost certainly need to formalise. The action path:
VUT application through the Junta de Andalucía. If your property is a detached villa or in a building with a permissive comunidad position, this is typically a 1 to 5 day declaración responsable. If the building has not voted on VUT under the new regime, the 3/5 community vote process applies.
SES.HOSPEDAJES traveller-reporting registration with the Guardia Civil. Mandatory for every guest stay.
Annual N2 filing with the Junta de Andalucía each February for the previous year's bookings.
Modelo 210 quarterly filings for non-Spanish-resident owners on rental income.
This is not all manageable as a side-task by an owner who is not fluent in Spanish administrative law. The realistic path for most owners is professional management.
C. Mixed-use owners (some long-stay, some short-let, some owner-use).
For owners running a mix, the formalisation path covers both the LAU long-stay and the VUT short-let layers. The annual reconciliation matters: tax treatment of short-let income (with VAT/IVA implications in some cases) differs from long-stay rental income.
The risk of not formalising
Three operational risks for owners running informal arrangements.
Platform verification. Airbnb and Booking.com verify a valid registration number on every listing, and in Andalucía that is your VUT. Listings without one are actively filtered.
Municipal enforcement. Alhaurín el Grande has not been at the front of municipal enforcement on short-let, but neighbouring Mijas and Marbella have stepped up enforcement and the pattern is spreading. Fines for unlicensed short-let in the Junta de Andalucía framework can reach €30,000 or more for serious cases.
Tax exposure. Informal cash-handled rental arrangements that are not reported through Modelo 210 (non-resident) or the appropriate income-tax declaration (resident) carry real legal exposure if the Spanish tax authorities investigate.
What an honest formalisation conversation covers
Three things at the discovery call for owners with informal arrangements:
Honest assessment of your specific property's path. Long-stay-only, short-let-only, or mixed-use, each a different path.
Realistic formalisation timeline. VUT can move in 1 to 2 weeks for straightforward cases; 6 to 8 weeks where comunidad vote dynamics need attention.
Realistic formalisation cost. The VUT is included in the Glaser management agreement (no separate licensing fee). Photography, professional towel and linen sets, and the annual N2 filing are quoted separately.
If you own an Alhaurín el Grande property and have been running on informal rental arrangements, request the discovery call. We will walk through the realistic formalisation path for your specific situation, without sugar-coating the costs or timeline.
Personally reviewed and approved by Maarten Glaser, owner of Glaser Group: real estate, rental management and investments.
