Holiday-let licences in plain words: what buyers should check

What people mean by a licence

Letting a whole home to tourists for short stays is a regulated business in the Balearic Islands, governed by the Balearic Tourism Law (Law 8/2012). What everyone calls a holiday-let licence is really an entry in the tourism register kept by the Consell de Mallorca, the island council. The owner files a sworn declaration that starts the activity, known as a DRIAT, and the home gets a registration number. That number must appear in every advert.

A registration on its own is not enough. Each home also needs tourist places (plazas turísticas), the right to host one guest each, and it can only take as many guests as it has places. Mallorca caps the total, so new places only appear when other registrations are cancelled. The Consell now hands out those released places by lottery, and only to people who already own the home.

ETV

The standard holiday-let registration for a house.

ETVPL

A registration for a home in a community of owners. It lasts five years and must be renewed.

ETV60

Letting your own main home to tourists for up to 60 days a year. It only works for someone who actually lives there.

Why the type of home matters

Since 16 April 2025, under Decree-law 4/2025, no new holiday-let registrations have been allowed for homes in a community of owners anywhere in the Balearics, except terraced and semi-detached houses. Since 14 June 2026, Law 4/2026 has also let in detached houses that share a plot with other buildings. In practice, a flat in a block cannot get a new holiday-let registration. The only route for a flat is the 60-day main-home letting, and only where the zone allows it.

Location matters as much. Holiday letting is only allowed in zones approved through island and town planning, and the town hall certifies whether a home is in one. Palma has gone furthest. A change to its General Plan, published on 27 June 2026, makes the whole municipality a zone where holiday letting in homes is not allowed, houses included. Existing permanent registrations can carry on, but time-limited ones, such as the five-year ETVPL, cannot be renewed.

Buying a home that already has one

A registration and its places stay with the property when it is sold. The new owner must notify the change of holder to the Consell de Mallorca, and the change cannot go through while a final tourism fine on the home is unpaid. The details then decide what you are really buying:

• Permanent or time-limited. Places bought outright for a house last indefinitely. Five-year registrations must be renewed in the month before they expire, and in Palma they can no longer be renewed at all.
• Main-home registrations. An ETV60 depends on the holder living in the home, so it does not carry on for a buyer who will not.
• Dormant registrations. A registration can be cancelled after three years in a row without letting, and island councils have been told to review dormant ones by April 2027.
• The community. Since 3 April 2025, national law has required three fifths of the owners in a building to approve any new holiday let. Lets already registered before then may continue.

Questions to ask before you sign

1. 1

   The number

   Ask for the registration number and look it up in the Consell de Mallorca’s public register of tourist homes, published as open data.

2. 2

   The papers

   Ask for the DRIAT, the registration decision and the certificate of tourist places, and check the holder, address and number of places.

3. 3

   The type and term

   Find out whether the places are permanent or five-year places, and when any term ends.

4. 4

   The house itself

   Check that the habitability certificate, the real number of bedrooms and the registered places agree, and that the building is legal.

5. 5

   The history

   Ask for tourist tax receipts and evidence of letting in recent years, and whether any inspection or fine is open.

6. 6

   The contract

   Ask your lawyer whether to make the licence a condition of the purchase and who files the change of holder.

Running one, and the alternatives

Owners who let to tourists also register guests with the Interior Ministry’s online system, collect the Balearic tourist tax from guests and pay it to the regional tax agency, and since July 2025 must include a ban on parties in the letting contract. Fines for letting without a registration are heavy, and owners, the people who market a home and booking platforms can all be held responsible.

A national rental registration number, introduced in July 2025, is no longer needed: the Supreme Court annulled that procedure in May 2026. The Balearic registration still applies.

Without a registration, you can still let a home long term as a normal residence. See Renting long-term. Calling a holiday let "seasonal" or "monthly" does not get round the tourism rules. Our full guide to holiday rental licences covers every rule, date and fine in detail.