11 · ETV — Tourist Rental on Mallorca
*If you intend to use a Mallorca property as a holiday rental as well as a home, you are entering one of the island's most heavily regulated and most frequently rewritten areas of law. A yield calculation that simply assumes a rental licence is only reliable once the licence eligibility of that specific property has been documented — not "in principle", but for the concrete property in question.*
⚠️ Currency warning: Moratoriums and zoning rules shift constantly; the ETV rules are not a settled position. Do not plan a purchase with rental intent without an up-to-the-day, case-by-case check with the Consell de Mallorca or a specialist law firm. Everything marked here with 🔴/🟡 should be treated as especially volatile.
ETV (Estancia Turística en Vivienda — tourist stay in a dwelling)#
The ETV is the tourist rental licence for residential property. Its legal foundation is the Balearic tourism act (Ley 8/2012, amended among others by Ley 6/2017) plus the decrees in force at any given time. The Consell de Mallorca is the authority responsible for administration and zoning.
What you must have in place#
- A valid
cédula de habitabilidad(habitation certificate, ≤ 10 years old) together with the
energy certificate (→ ch. 02/09).
- Acquired
plazas turísticas(tourist places/bed allotments) from the Bolsa (see below). - A registration number (
número de registro/ NRUA): since 2025 it must appear in every
listing, and platforms such as Airbnb or Booking are required to display it.
- For an apartment in a multi-unit building (
plurifamiliar), the **consent of the owners'
community** (comunidad de propietarios).
For you as a buyer, this means: any single one of these points can sink the rental plan — if one is missing, the licence is not enforceable.
Moratorium & Bolsa de plazas (Decreto-ley 4/2025) 🟡#
- A moratorium on new or transferred ETV places has been in force since 11.02.2022 (4 years).
- With Decreto-ley 4/2025 (11.04.2025), from 16.04.2025 the granting of new places in
plurifamiliar properties (apartments) was prohibited across the entire archipelago — terraced and semi-detached houses are exempt. This comes with penalties of up to €500,000 and a bolsa temporal de plazas (temporary pool of places), handled through the CBAT (Consorci Borsa d'Allotjaments Turístics).
Price per plaza (Bolsa) 🟡#
| Type | Price per place |
|---|---|
unifamiliar (villa/detached) | €3,500 |
plurifamiliar (apartment) | €875 |
| 2 months/year only (ETV60-style) | €291.67 |
A "place" normally counts as 2 guests per bedroom. A villa with 4 bedrooms therefore comes to 8 places — i.e. 8 × €3,500 = €28,000 (payable over 5 years, non-transferable during those 5 years). Important in practice: the real bottleneck is not the price but availability — there are only a limited number of calls (convocatorias), and allocation is decided by order of entry or by lottery.
⚖️ An owners' community may ban ETV — STS 1232 & 1233/2024 ✅#
The Tribunal Supremo (Pleno) (Spanish Supreme Court, full chamber) clarified with STS 1232/2024 and 1233/2024 of 03.10.2024 ✅ that the wording "limitar o condicionar" (to limit or condition) in Art. 17.12 LPH (the horizontal property act) also covers an outright ban. A community can therefore prohibit holiday letting by a 3/5 majority — though not retroactively for licences that already exist.
Learning: Before you buy an ETV-eligible apartment, read the estatutos (community statutes) and the resolutions of the community. Letting may already be banned there — or could be banned in future by a 3/5 majority.
Penalties & Ecotasa#
- Letting without a licence/DRIAT attracts fines; platform listings without a registration number
are penalised up to roughly €400,000–500,000.
- The Impuesto de Turismo Sostenible (ITS / "Ecotasa") (sustainable tourism tax) is collected by
the host per guest per night: for a holiday dwelling €2 in high season (1.5.–31.10.) or €1.50 in low season; from the 9th night a −50 % discount applies, and children under 16 are exempt. 🟡 An increase was under discussion in 2025 but was postponed.
- Rental IRNR (non-resident income tax): 19 % on the net amount (EU) or 24 % on the gross
amount (non-EU/third countries) — the details are in ch. 14.
Distinguishing the forms of letting#
Three things that are easily confused are legally clearly separated: alquiler turístico (ETV — tourist letting) ≠ alquiler de temporada (seasonal letting under the LAU) ≠ vivienda habitual (permanent residence). Seasonal letting as a supposed "loophole" is being regulated ever more tightly (→ ch. 13).
In depth: procedure & operation#
DRIAT (Declaración Responsable de Inicio de Actividad Turística)#
You may begin marketing from the moment the DRIAT (responsible declaration of commencement of tourist activity) is filed with the Consell de Mallorca — not only once the authorisation is granted. Items to be submitted include: proof of places (CBAT), a municipal "zona apta" certificate, the Anexo 6 Decreto 20/2015 (quality plan, ≥ 70 points), a valid cédula, for plurifamiliar the community's consent, and for ETV60 the empadronamiento (local residence registration). After acquiring the places, you have a 3-month window to file the DRIAT.
NRUA & guest reporting — the new obligations 2024/2025 ✅#
- NRUA (
Número de Registro Único de Alquiler— single rental registration number): a
Spain-wide mandatory number, since 1.7.2025 (basis: EU Regulation 2024/1028 + RD 1312/2024 + Orden VAU/653/2025). It is applied for through the Ventanilla Única Digital (single digital window) of the Colegio de Registradores; it is a mandatory entry in platform listings.
- SES.HOSPEDAJES (RD 933/2021, in force since 2.12.2024): guest data must be reported to the
Ministry of the Interior within 24 h (~18 data points, retained for 3 years); the penalty range runs from €100 to €600,000 (LO 4/2015).
CBAT bolsa — how you obtain the plazas#
Allocation runs through a public lottery, expressly not on a "first come" basis. The regular calls (convocatorias) fall in September / January / May (🟡 the "March 2026" date that has been circulating was a reactivated special call for 1,069 plazas). Payment can be made in 5 annual instalments (20 %); a 5-year transfer lock applies. With unifamiliar you acquire ownership; with plurifamiliar/ETV60 it runs on a 5-year renewable basis.
What is mandatory in day-to-day operation#
You are required to hold liability insurance ≥ €300,000 ✅, a complaints book, and the registration number — in the listing and towards the guest. On top of this comes the placa obligation ✅: an externally visible "ETV" pictogram with número de signatura (signature number) (200×200 mm, turquoise blue; Anexo 1 Decreto 20/2015). 🟡 Heating/cooling is also a mandatory requirement in the modernisation plan (Anexo 6).
On IVA (VAT): holiday letting without hotel-type services is IVA-exempt; with such services (reception, ongoing cleaning, laundry, catering) 10 % applies. 🔎 The occasionally discussed removal of this exemption (→ 21 %) is a future prospect (~2028) and is not already in force from 2025.
Penalties (Ley 8/2012) 🟡#
graves (serious) offences are penalised at €4,001–40,000 (marketing without DRIAT: €20,001–40,000); muy graves (very serious) at €40,001–400,000 (this also hits platforms). Ancillary penalties may include a ban on the activity and closure.
Palma — the tightening 2025/2026 ✅#
In Palma, holiday letting is prohibited in all forms (Oct 2025) and capped at the 639 existing dwellings; with the "zona única no apta" (Feb 2026) comes a complete stop on new places.
❓ FAQ#
May I rent out my Mallorca apartment to tourists? Only with an ETV licence — and that requires a cédula, energy certificate, acquired plazas and a registration number. In multi-unit buildings no new places have been available since April 2025, and the owners' community can ban letting by a 3/5 majority (STS 1232/2024).
Sources (selection)#
- Ley 8/2012 / Ley 6/2017 (Turismo IB) · Decreto-ley 4/2025 · Consell de Mallorca / CBAT
- STS 1232 & 1233/2024 (Art. 17.12 LPH) → ch. 23 · Hacienda (ITS Baleares 2025)