Owner Guide
What Málaga city has done, what town halls can do since 2024, where each Axarquía municipality stands and what an owner should check before investing.
Quick answer
Málaga city suspended new tourist-home licences in most of its neighbourhoods in 2025, with a moratorium running until 2028. The Axarquía is not included: Nerja, Torrox, Vélez-Málaga, Rincón de la Victoria, Frigiliana and Cómpeta still accept VUT registrations at the time of writing. But since Decree 31/2024 any Andalusian town hall can limit tourist use by zone, and since 2025 communities of owners can veto new tourist homes with a three-fifths majority. Before investing: check the municipality, the community and that the house has an occupancy licence.
Málaga's town hall amended its urban plan to ban new tourist homes in the 43 neighbourhoods where they exceed 8% of housing stock — the Centre, La Malagueta, El Palo and Pedregalejo among them — and then approved a general suspension of licences across the city that runs until 2028. Homes already registered keep their number, but no new registrations are accepted and in many cases no change of owner either. The stated reason is pressure on residential rents; the practical effect for an owner is that a house in the city without an existing licence can no longer become a VUT.
The displacement is immediate: part of the guest and investor demand is moving to the neighbouring municipalities — Rincón de la Victoria first, fifteen minutes by motorway — and to the rest of the Axarquía.
Decree 31/2024 of the Junta de Andalucía gave town halls the power to cap tourist homes by zone, require additional planning conditions or declare saturated areas. Each municipality decides. The regional registration (VFT number) remains mandatory and, since July 2025, so does the national NRA, without which platforms will not publish.
| Municipality | Own moratorium | What to watch |
|---|---|---|
| Nerja / Frigiliana / Maro | No | Noise and coexistence in Capistrano and the centre; urbanisation statutes |
| Rincón de la Victoria | No | Receives demand displaced from the city; several hillside urbanisations have voted restrictions |
| Vélez-Málaga / Torre del Mar | No | VUT and NRA checks in Torre del Mar; statutes in apartment blocks |
| Torrox / Torrox Costa | No | Torrox Costa communities with voted restrictions; German guests expect precise information |
| Cómpeta / Arenas / inland | No | Planning status of villas on rural land; access and utilities |
| Málaga city | Yes, until 2028 | No new registrations; only existing VUTs |
No Axarquía municipality has, at the time of writing, approved a moratorium of its own. That can change: town halls have had the tool since 2024 and several on the western Costa del Sol have already used it. Our advice is to legalise as soon as possible any house that is going to be let, because existing licences have been respected in every known case.
Only if it was already registered as a VUT before the moratorium. No new registrations are accepted until 2028 in most of the city.
Not directly: they are separate municipalities and still accept VUT registrations. Indirectly yes, because part of the demand is shifting towards them.
Yes. Since April 2025 it can do so with a three-fifths majority, and new tourist homes in buildings with that ban are not registered. Already registered homes keep their rights.
The opposite: existing licences have been respected in every known case, so legalising now protects you against a future restriction. It is what we recommend to every owner we talk to.
General guidance as of August 2026 based on published regulations; not legal advice. Always verify your municipality's situation before investing.
Free guide · PDF · 2026
VUT licence and NRA step by step, tax for residents and non-residents, a checklist to prepare the house and how to choose a manager. 8 pages, no fluff.
Tell us where it is and what it's like: we check municipality, community and paperwork as part of the free estimate, and if it fits, we process the licence at no cost.
