In the long (and intense) struggle between neighborhood communities and tourist apartment owners, residents have made significant progress. The Supreme Court has confirmed that a three-fifths majority must be reached before a board of property owners can ban rentals to tourists.

Your decision is important for several reasons.

What happened? The Supreme Court made an important decision for tourist apartments in Spain. As the organization itself reveals, the General Assembly of the First Chamber issued two decisions ruling that property-owning communities can ban tourist rentals. But they need a deal accepted by the board with a three-fifths majority.

The news is important for several reasons. The most important of these is that the First Chamber of the high court ruled for the first time that the amendment to the Urban Leases Act in 2019 should be interpreted (and applied) precisely as “limiting or conditioning” rentals for tourists.

What does this mean? What the Supreme Court has done is to establish a criterion. And handle future differences. The decision was accepted by the court itself, which insisted that its two decisions had “resolved the debate” that had hitherto existed in the Provincial Courts in one important respect, as to whether the veto of tourist activities should be unanimously accepted by the board or accepted by the majority. .

The Supreme Court’s position is clear. The ban needs to be supported by a three-fifths majority. The Supreme Court even goes a step further, suggesting that if unanimity is required rather than a double majority, the tourist apartment owner will vote against repealing the measure.

What do you stand for? The Supreme Court referred to its own jurisprudence to support its decision. To be more precise, note that in 2018, 2023 and 2024, numerous decisions have already been published confirming the “legal ban” on allocating a house for rental for tourist purposes. It also insists that “the ban on the use of property elements in the horizontal property regime is legitimate and confirms the Constitution.” Finally, note that although the 2019 amendment mentions “limiting or conditioning” leases, this does not exclude “prohibition.”

Is this an innovation? Yes and no. The Supreme Court’s decision is important because, as he stated, it is the first time a clear decision has been made on an issue that has created “debate” in the courts so far. But the three-fifths criterion is not entirely new. In July, Economy Minister Carlos Body already announced that the Government was working on an amendment to the Horizontal Property Law pointing in the same direction.

“What we want is for the neighbors to be authorized by a three-fifths majority to establish these apartments, which would manage to add an element of rationality to the rise of this type of housing,” he explained. In an interview on RNE: the aim is “to empower the residents of the blocks where their installations are introduced.”

Are there so many tourist apartments? Yes, thousands. According to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE), there were more than 351,300 at the beginning of the year. But apartments allocated for holiday rentals are relevant not only because of their numbers. Pressure has been put on the housing market in cities as housing has shifted from traditional rentals to much more attractive tourist rentals. Complaints from neighborhood residents about this type of rental have also increased.

Faced with this situation, more and more cities in Spain have chosen to take various measures, from imposing a moratorium on licenses to considering the end of licenses or directly devising strict regulations requiring, for example, apartments rented to tourists to have independent access.

Picture | Erwan Hesry (Unsplash) and Oleg Tsegelnyk (Unsplash)

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