Letting a room is not letting the flat
This is the arrangement that has grown fastest in the city, because of the price per square metre and because Barcelona is next door. In tax terms it remains property income: you declare what you charge for the room and you subtract the costs, but not all of them and not in full. Costs that relate to the whole dwelling — the IBI local property tax, community charges, insurance, depreciation — are apportioned, and the usual criterion is the share of floor area given over, plus the corresponding part of the shared areas of the flat.
The apportionment is done with the floor plan, not by eye. The square metres of the room against the square metres of the flat, plus the share of hallway, kitchen and bathroom the tenant actually uses, give you the fraction to apply to every cost belonging to the whole dwelling. Two rooms let in the same flat are two fractions, and the part matching the space you keep for yourself is simply not deductible.
The next question is whether income obtained that way can qualify for the reduction granted to lettings used as a home. This is a disputed point and we say so plainly: there are arguments for saying yes when the room constitutes the tenant's home, and there are administrative readings that have demanded more. We are not going to hand you a categorical answer where none exists; we will tell you what the claim is defended with and what would happen if it were not accepted.
The regime depends on the real use. A room let to a student for the academic year, to a worker by the month, or by the odd night are not the same thing, even if the flat and the key are. If what is really going on is short-stay accommodation with continuous turnover, that is the classification that counts, licence or no licence.
VAT on letting rooms
Letting a dwelling is exempt from VAT under article 20.Uno.23 of the Spanish VAT Act, and that exemption also covers a room where the tenant uses it as a home and you provide nothing else. What breaks it is services: regular cleaning of the room, a change of linen during the stay, meals, a reception desk. Length alone does not break it yet: the decree-law of 29 September 2026 that taxed furnished lets of up to 30 nights at 10 % was rejected in Congress on 2 October. The room-with-services model advertised as flexible accommodation sits very close to that line, and whoever crosses it starts charging VAT and filing quarterly Modelo 303 returns; rooms let by the week without services will follow once the rule has a date, which the EU directive caps at July 2028.
The flat on a long let: what you subtract and what you depreciate
With a long residential letting the arithmetic is calmer, but it contains one component almost nobody computes correctly: depreciation. It is not a cost you pay, it is an annual percentage applied to the greater of the acquisition cost actually paid and the valor catastral, always excluding the value of the land. It is deducted year after year, it reduces the profit and, in exchange, it lowers the acquisition value when you sell.
On top of that you subtract the IBI, community charges, insurance, loan interest, repairs and any utilities you pay, and doubtful debts once the tenant stops paying and the conditions are met. It is developed in the comparison letting it or leaving it empty.
One more point about the tenant. Both the reduction and the VAT exemption look at what the property is used for, so a contract signed with a company that then houses whoever it chooses is not the same as one signed with the person who is going to live there. Where there is any doubt, the contract should say what the flat is for and the facts should match it.
Who writes to us from L'Hospitalet
| Who | What they have to look at |
|---|---|
| Owner letting two rooms in the flat where they live | Costs split by floor area, and whether the residential reduction is available |
| Whole flat on a long contract | Depreciation computed properly and whichever reduction the contract attracts |
| Landlord with a tenant who has stopped paying | Doubtful debts and what still has to be declared while the arrears last |
| Someone who bought for tourist letting and got no licence | Converting to season or long lets without dragging along VAT that no longer applies |
| Owner living outside Spain | Modelo 210 and which costs are deductible depending on where they live |
Our way of working in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat
Remotely and with the contract on the table, because in this city almost everything is decided by reading the contract rather than the tax return. You send us contracts, receipts and costs once a year — or quarterly if VAT is involved — and we hand back the computation explained line by line before anything is filed.
We are lawyers and we work accordingly: what is solid is stated, what is arguable is flagged as arguable and documented from the outset, and we never call a position safe because it reads better in a quote.
Two rooms let in L'Hospitalet, with the square metres counted
An owner lives in his 90 m² flat and lets the other two rooms, 12 m² each, for 450 € a month each with utilities included. Living room, kitchen and bathroom, 30 m², are shared by all three. Each tenant has their room plus a third of the common area: 22 m². Between the two, 44 m² out of 90, 48.9 % of the flat.
| Item | Annual |
|---|---|
| Rent received: 2 × 450 × 12 | 10,800 € |
| IBI 480 + building fees 900 + insurance 300 | 1,680 € |
| Mortgage interest | 2,400 € |
| Utilities paid by the owner | 1,800 € |
| Depreciation: 3 % on 120,000 € of building | 3,600 € |
| Total costs of the flat | 9,480 € |
| Deductible share, 44/90 | −4,634.67 € |
| Net income before reductions | 6,165.33 € |
IBI is the annual municipal property tax. There is no imputed income for the part he lives in, because it is his main home. On those 6,165.33 € the reduction for letting a home may then apply, which for rooms is disputed and is supported with the contracts. It helps if the tenant is registered on the padrón, the municipal register of residents, and if the contract has a duration typical of a home; a room that changes hands every month will hardly sustain it. And if costs exceed income in a given year, the excess of interest and repairs is not entirely lost: it is carried forward, within limits, to the following years.
From holiday flat to long let in L'Hospitalet: the VAT on the refurbishment
Anyone who bought to run a holiday flat with services and deducted the VAT on the refurbishment has an account to settle if they now let long-term, which is a VAT-exempt activity. For property, that deduction is monitored for ten years, the year of purchase and the nine that follow. If 6,300 € of VAT on building work was deducted in 2024 and from 2026 the use becomes exempt, as a general rule each remaining year of that period requires one tenth to be paid back: 630 € a year, 5,040 € up to 2033. It is not a penalty, it is the adjustment for capital goods, and it is declared in the last 303 of each year for as long as it lasts.
The change must also be notified in the census on Modelo 036: remaining on record in L'Hospitalet with a VAT-able activity that no longer exists means the tax office expects quarters that will never come, and demands for unfiled 303s start arriving on their own.
What almost nobody in L'Hospitalet asks: if one day you sell and reinvest in another main home, the exemption covers what was your home. The part of the flat let out may not qualify, and then the gain on that proportion is taxed even if you reinvest everything. The split of square metres that serves you today for costs is the one the tax office will use tomorrow for the sale. Read the requirements of the rollover exemption before signing a deposit contract, and if you are already at that stage, tell us about the sale.