Spain's rental registry after the Supreme Court ruling: what mid-term landlords still need
Last updated: 26 September 2026
From 1 July 2025, an owner who advertised a tourist or temporary let on an online platform in Spain needed a national registration number first. In May 2026 the Supreme Court annulled that registry, but not everything that came with it. This article explains what the ruling means for the rental registry Spain mid-term landlords were told to use, what still applies, and what a temporary contract for a flat in Valencia must contain to hold up.
What the Supreme Court decided
On 19 May 2026 the Spanish Supreme Court annulled the national single rental registry created by Real Decreto 1312/2024, because the State has no power to run a registry that overlaps with the regions' own.
The appeal was brought by the Generalitat Valenciana, the regional government, and decided by the court's Third Chamber in judgment 620/2026. The court found that registering tourist and short-stay accommodation falls under the regions' powers over tourism and housing, where regional registers already exist.
The judgment was published in the Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE) on 8 June 2026. The court repeated the conclusion in later judgments, on appeals by tourist apartment associations from Barcelona and Girona (21 May) and by the Region of Murcia (1 June).
What the court did not annul matters as much. The Ventanilla Única Digital de Arrendamientos, the national digital window through which platforms send data to the authorities, stays in place, and so do the platforms' duties to send that data, which the State keeps under its powers over economic planning and official statistics.
What the registry required
The annulled registry required anyone offering a tourist or temporary let through an online platform to obtain a registration number (the NRUA) from the Property Registry before the listing could go live.
It covered tourist lets and also non-tourist short-term lets, which the decree tied to the seasonal contract (arrendamiento de temporada) in article 3.2 of the Spanish rental law (LAU), the contract used for furnished mid-term lets of 1 to 11 months. The decree entered into force on 2 January 2025 and its obligations applied from 1 July 2025.
The owner declared the address, cadastral reference and type of let, then filed a return every 12 months listing each contract and its reason. If a number was suspended, platforms had to remove the listings within 48 hours of an order.
What was annulled and what still applies
The ruling removed every obligation linked to the national registration number and kept the data-sharing system that sits behind it.
Rule under Real Decreto 1312/2024 | Status after the ruling |
|---|---|
National registration number from the Property Registry before advertising on a platform | Annulled |
Annual informative return listing each contract and its reason | Annulled |
Removal of listings within 48 hours when a national number is suspended or withdrawn | Annulled |
Voluntary registration number for long-term lets | Annulled |
Ventanilla Única Digital de Arrendamientos, run by the Ministry of Housing | Still applies |
Transmission by platforms of activity data, the flat's address and the listing URLs (monthly for most platforms) | Still applies |
Monthly data from the digital window to the national statistics office (INE) and Eurostat | Still applies |
Regional and local rules on tourist lets, including regional registers | Still apply |
The rules that decide whether a mid-term contract is valid were never in the decree. They are in the LAU, which has not been amended since 2023.
What this means for a mid-term flat in Valencia
A mid-term landlord in Valencia no longer needs a national registration number or an annual return, but the flat's listings are still reported to the authorities and the contract still has to be genuinely temporary.
After the ruling, the Ministry of Housing said the regions are now responsible for enforcing the rules on tourist and seasonal lets. In the Comunitat Valenciana the regional register is the Registro de Turismo de la Comunitat Valenciana, and it is for tourist dwellings (viviendas de uso turístico).
Under Valencian tourism law, a tourist dwelling is a whole property let for tourist purposes for 10 days or fewer to the same guest; a flat let for 11 days or more to one tenant cannot be one. A genuine mid-term let therefore sits outside the tourist register. No regional register for temporary contracts had been announced in the Comunitat Valenciana at the time of writing.
Platforms still send each flat's activity data, address and listing URLs to the digital window every month, and regional and local authorities can see the data for their territory, so the listing, the contract and the actual use of the flat should tell the same story.
Valencian law also presumes a tourist purpose when a flat is marketed through tourist channels, including the internet. A mid-term listing should state the minimum stay clearly, and a flat that also takes stays of 10 days or fewer has to follow the tourist-dwelling rules.
What a genuinely temporary contract must contain
A genuinely temporary contract states why the tenant needs the flat for a limited time and when the stay ends, and both have to be true.
Spanish courts look at the real purpose of the let, not the label on the contract. In February 2026, in a case reported by idealista/news, the provincial court of A Coruña treated a contract of 11 months and 15 days as a standard residential lease, holding that duration alone does not make a let seasonal. A reclassified contract carries the LAU protections for a residential lease, including the right to stay up to 5 years with a private landlord or 7 years with a company landlord.
A temporary contract that holds up usually contains:
The reason for the stay, in concrete terms: a work assignment, a university semester, medical treatment, the renovation of the tenant's own home. The surviving part of the decree lists the same kinds of temporary cause.
A fixed end date that matches the reason. A 6-month assignment and an 11-month contract do not match.
The tenant's permanent address elsewhere, and a statement that the flat is not their permanent home.
Supporting documents on file, such as the assignment letter or the enrolment, in case the contract is challenged.
A deposit of 2 months' rent, which the LAU sets for this type of contract, lodged with the Generalitat Valenciana within one month of signing.
Typical scenario: an owner in the Netherlands obtained a national number for her Valencia flat in 2025 and lets it on 6-month contracts to visiting researchers. She now has no annual return to file. She still needs a contract per tenant that names the research stay and ends when it ends, the deposit lodged with the Generalitat, and listings that show the minimum stay.
What may change next
The next change for mid-term landlords to watch is a planned housing decree on temporary contracts, not a new registry.
The government has said it will take the decree to the Council of Ministers on 29 September 2026. According to press reports on the draft, it would bring temporary contracts into the LAU with a maximum of 12 months and a written justification of the temporary reason, and a contract without a real reason would be treated as a residential lease. As of 26 September 2026 the decree has not been approved, and a royal decree-law must also be validated by Congress.
A contract that already states a real reason and an end date is the best preparation for either outcome.
Where Nestor fits
Nestor manages mid-term and long-term lets in Valencia, and problem solving and legal advice on Spanish rental law is one of its six services.
Rental management covers listing and price optimisation, publication on the major portals and on Globexs, move-in and move-out with keys, deposits and inventory. Nestor's CEO, Tiscar Navarro, is a property investment lawyer. Related reading: Mid-term or long-term let, Preparing a flat for the next tenant and What a property manager actually does. All six services are on the services page.
If you own a flat in Valencia and want to know where your contracts and listings stand after the ruling, send the address, the size and the current situation. You will get a written proposal with a fixed monthly fee, no visit required and no obligation. Request a proposal.
Frequently asked questions
Do I still need a national registration number (NRUA) for a mid-term let in Spain?
No. The Supreme Court annulled the national registration procedure on 19 May 2026, with publication in the BOE on 8 June 2026. Regional rules still apply to the type of let you offer.
Is the Ventanilla Única Digital still in force?
Yes. The court kept the national digital window and the platforms' duty to send it monthly data on each listing: activity, address and listing URLs.
Do I have to register a mid-term flat in the Valencian tourist register?
Not if every let is for 11 days or more to the same tenant. Under Valencian law a tourist dwelling is let for 10 days or fewer to the same guest, and only tourist dwellings go in the Registro de Turismo de la Comunitat Valenciana.
Do I still have to file the annual rental return?
No. The return that owners with a national number filed every 12 months was part of the annulled registry. Keep the contract and the evidence of its reason, because a court can still ask for them.
Can I get back the fees I paid for the registration number?
Possibly. Lawyers quoted by idealista/news point to a state liability claim against the Ministry of Housing within one year of the ruling's publication in the BOE on 8 June 2026. Take legal advice before relying on a date.
What makes a mid-term contract genuinely temporary?
A real reason for a limited stay, such as work, studies or medical treatment, and an end date that matches it. The tenant should have a permanent home elsewhere.
What happens if a court decides the contract was not temporary?
The contract is treated as a residential lease under the LAU. The tenant can then stay up to 5 years if the landlord is a private individual, or 7 years if the landlord is a company.
Are the rules on temporary contracts about to change?
Possibly. A housing decree due at the Council of Ministers on 29 September 2026 would, according to press reports, cap temporary contracts at 12 months and require a written reason. As of 26 September 2026 it has not been approved and would still need validation by Congress.
