The rule, stated precisely
Spanish commonhold is governed by the Horizontal Property Act. Since the 2025 reform, a community may limit or condition the activity of tourist letting in the building by the favourable vote of three fifths of the total owners, who must at the same time represent three fifths of the participation quotas. Both counts have to be reached. Three fifths of the people present is not the test; three fifths of everybody who owns a unit is.
The same three-fifths majority has long allowed a community to establish special charges, or an increase in the share of common expenses attributable to units used for tourist letting, capped at twenty per cent. That is a separate decision from restricting the activity, and communities frequently take both at one meeting without distinguishing them in the minutes, which is itself a ground of complaint.
The vote of the owner who was not there
This is where most resolutions are won and lost. Under the Act, an owner who was absent from the meeting and who, having been properly notified of the resolution, does not express disagreement within thirty calendar days is counted with the majority. In practice that means the owner living in Manchester who binned an envelope in Spanish has voted in favour of restricting his own flat.
It also means the notification itself is critical. The count depends on it, and defects in it — sent to an address the owner never gave, never sent at all, sent without the text of the resolution — go directly to the validity of the majority.
Give the administrator a current address for notifications, in writing, and keep the proof. Read anything that arrives from the community within days, not months. Thirty calendar days is not long when the letter took two weeks to reach another country, and a disagreement expressed on day thirty-four counts for nothing.
When the resolution binds a buyer
A resolution recorded in the minutes binds the owners. To be enforceable against a future purchaser, the prudent and usual course is to register it at the Land Registry, where it appears in the description of the building and is found by anybody doing proper enquiries. A restriction that has never been registered can still bind existing owners while giving a new buyer a genuine argument. If you are buying, ask for the minutes of the last three years and a certificate from the administrator, and read both.
What to check when you receive one of these resolutions
- The convening notice. Was the restriction on the agenda, described clearly enough that an absent owner could understand what was being proposed? A resolution on a matter not properly on the agenda is vulnerable.
- The attendance list and the quota column. Add the quotas up yourself. Communities routinely compute three fifths of those present, which is not the test.
- How absent owners were treated. Were they notified, when, at what address, and did the thirty days actually elapse before the count was declared final?
- Whether owners in arrears were counted. An owner who is not current with community payments and has not deposited the sum has no right to vote, which cuts both ways in a close count.
- What the resolution actually says. A ban, a requirement of prior consent, a cap on the number of units, a limit on the number of nights and a surcharge on expenses are five different things with five different consequences.
- The date. Challenges have short deadlines: three months from the resolution in the ordinary case, extended to one year where the resolution is contrary to law or to the statutes. Miss them and the substance stops mattering.
The argument about existing activity
The question everybody asks is whether a new restriction reaches a flat that was already registered and letting before the meeting. There is a serious legal argument that a restriction of this kind operates for the future and does not extinguish an activity lawfully established beforehand, and there is an equally serious argument that what the community is regulating is the use of the property itself. It depends on the wording of the resolution, on the statutes, on the region, and on how the courts in that province have been deciding.
We will not tell you which way it goes, because nobody honestly can in the abstract. What we will say is that the outcome is usually shaped by facts that were fixed before the dispute began: whether the registration predates the resolution, whether the resolution was registered, whether the statutes already contained a relevant clause, and whether you objected in time. Those are worth getting right while they are still cheap.
| Your position | The first question | What is at stake |
|---|---|---|
| Owner letting, restriction just passed | When were you notified, and are you inside the challenge window? | The whole income of the property |
| Owner letting, restriction rumoured | Is it on the agenda of the next meeting, and will you attend or delegate? | Your vote, and the absent-owner rule |
| Owner wanting the restriction | Do you have three fifths of owners and of quotas, properly counted? | A resolution that survives challenge, rather than one that is annulled at your cost |
| Buyer | What do the minutes and the Land Registry say? | Whether you are buying a business or a holiday flat |
What this has to do with tax
Directly, nothing; indirectly, a great deal. A restriction that takes effect halfway through a year changes the split between rental income and imputed income on your Spanish return, and for a non-resident owner that is not a rounding difference: imputed income admits no deduction of costs at all. If the activity stops, the census registration and any EU VAT registration should be dealt with rather than left open. And if the property is then sold, everything in declaring a sale as a non-resident becomes relevant at once.
Community disputes are legal work and are quoted separately from bookkeeping. If you have received one of these resolutions, the useful first step is to send us the minutes and the notification with its date through the contact form, because the deadline is running from the moment it was served.
Benalmádena: minutes that said "more than three fifths"
On an estate in Benalmádena, the owners' meeting votes to limit holiday lets. The minutes record that the resolution "exceeds three fifths" and the chairman takes it to the Land Registry. An owner who has let her flat for years adds up the quotas from the attendance list and the votes of absent owners who did not object, and reaches little more than half. Her whole return from the flat is at stake, and what saves or sinks her is not the law but a challenge deadline that started running on the day the minutes were served on her.
A new letting activity since 3 April 2025 needs the building's approval
The reform in force from 3 April 2025 went a step further than allowing limits: an owner who wants to start a tourist letting activity in their flat now needs the community's express approval with the same three-fifths majority of owners and quotas. The reform carries a transitional rule for those already letting before it, and how far that protection reaches is one of the questions argued most often.
Arrears, and who is allowed to challenge
An owner who is behind with payments to the community, and has neither challenged the debt nor deposited the amount, has no right to vote, even though their presence at the meeting is counted. To challenge a resolution you must have recorded your vote against it at the meeting, or been absent, or been wrongly deprived of your vote, and you must be up to date with payments or deposit what you owe. The three months run from the resolution or, for an absent owner, from its communication.
Asking your neighbours for permission to start
Since April 2025 the order is fixed: the community first, then the tourism register. Write to the chairman asking for approval of your activity to be put on the agenda of the next meeting, with a clear description of what you are asking for. Speak to your neighbours beforehand: the three fifths are counted on the total, and the rule about absent owners who do not object within thirty days works here too. If it is approved, ask for a certificate of the resolution signed by the secretary and countersigned by the chairman, because that is the document proving the approval. What your region demands on registration is checked case by case, but arriving without that certificate is asking for trouble.