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Holiday Rentals in a Community of Owners: What You Need in Fuerteventura
If your flat is in a building or complex with a community of owners, two laws apply to letting it as a holiday home: the Horizontal Property Act and the Canary Islands law. What each one requires, what changes if you were already letting, and which documents you will be asked for.
In Corralejo, Costa Calma, Caleta de Fuste or Morro Jable, many holiday homes are flats in buildings or complexes with a community of owners. In those cases complying with tourism rules is not enough: the community also has a say.
In short:
- Since 3 April 2025, to start letting a home for tourist use in a building with a community of owners you need the community's prior, express approval, by a three-fifths majority.
- If you were already letting before that date, with your responsible declaration filed, you can carry on under the conditions of the tourism rules.
- The Canary Islands law also requires you to prove that the community does not prohibit tourist use. It is an essential item: a mistake there can sink the whole application.
Two laws that apply at the same time
If your home is under horizontal property (a building or complex with a community of owners), two laws apply:
- The Horizontal Property Act (national), which governs what the community can decide. It was amended by Organic Law 1/2025, with effect from 3 April 2025.
- Law 6/2025 on the Sustainable Regulation of the Tourist Use of Housing (Canary Islands), amended by Law 7/2026, which governs the tourist activity: where it is allowed, which documents you must file and which technical requirements you must meet.
One does not replace the other. You have to comply with both.
What the Horizontal Property Act says
You need the community's express approval
An owner who wants to run a holiday rental must obtain the prior, express approval of the community of owners. Before the reform, it was enough that the community had not prohibited it. Now silence is not enough: there has to be a resolution.
What majority
Approving, limiting, conditioning or prohibiting the activity requires the votes of three-fifths of all owners, who must also represent three-fifths of the ownership shares. It makes no difference whether or not the resolution changes the bylaws.
Owners who do not attend the meeting, if they were properly summoned, count as votes in favour unless they object within 30 calendar days of being notified of the resolution.
The community can raise your charges
With the same majority, the meeting can set special charges or increase the holiday home's share of common expenses, as long as the increase does not exceed 20%.
If you were already letting before 3 April 2025
The law provides that anyone already running the activity before that date, registered under the tourism rules, can continue under the conditions and deadlines of those rules. In addition, community resolutions on holiday rentals are not retroactive.
If you receive notice of a meeting to limit or prohibit holiday rentals and you were already letting, ask a lawyer how it affects your specific case.
What the Canary Islands law requires
A new holiday home
The Canary Islands law does not allow holiday rentals under horizontal property if the deed of division, the bylaws or a resolution of the meeting prohibit it. And the responsible declaration filed with the Cabildo must include, among other documents:
- The tourist activity report, signed by a qualified technician.
- The planning certificate (cédula urbanística), showing that municipal planning expressly allows tourist use for that home.
- The community certificate stating that there is no prohibition.
For a new holiday home, the prudent approach is to also have the minutes with the express approval required by national law. With both, there is no room for doubt.
Remember too that a new holiday home is currently only possible where the town council has expressly enabled tourist use. Until it does, new registrations are very limited in Fuerteventura. We explain it in stressed areas in Fuerteventura.
A home that was already operating
If your home was already authorised under Decree 113/2015 and you are both the owner and the holder of the responsible declaration, you can apply for consolidated tourist use at the town council until 13 December 2030. Under horizontal property you will be asked for a land registry certificate (or equivalent) showing there is no prohibition. We explain the procedure in how to apply for consolidated tourist use.
And if you never filed the prior notification of classified activity, you have until 31 July 2027 to do so, whether or not you are in a community.
Horizontal property is an essential item
The Canary Islands law treats certain items of the responsible declaration as essential, including the holder's identity, capacity, cadastral reference and horizontal property status. If any of them is false or omitted, the activity cannot continue and you can be barred from applying again for up to 3 years.
Do not declare that the home is not under horizontal property if it is, or that there is no prohibition, without the certificate in hand.
What about tourist complexes?
Many flats in Fuerteventura are in complexes that were built as tourist establishments (apartments or bungalows). The Canary Islands law does not allow holiday homes in buildings set up as a tourist establishment: their units are accommodation units, not homes, and they operate under different rules.
Nor is it allowed in areas where planning provides for mixed tourist and residential use on the same plot.
On 14 October 2026, the Canary Islands Parliament rejected a PSOE bill that sought to recognise residential use in those complexes. The Canary Islands Government is preparing its own decree-law on the matter, but there is no text yet. For now, nothing has changed.
If you are not sure whether your flat is a home or an accommodation unit, check before filing anything: the title deed, the Cadastre and the planning certificate will make it clear.
Checklist
- Check whether your home is under horizontal property and whether it is part of a tourist establishment.
- Read the deed of division and the bylaws, and ask the property manager for the minutes of recent years.
- If you are starting out, ask for the express approval of your holiday home to be put on the meeting's agenda, and keep the minutes.
- Ask for the community certificate (or land registry certificate) stating there is no prohibition.
- Check with the town council that planning allows tourist use and request the planning certificate.
- If you were already letting, make sure you file the prior notification of classified activity before 31 July 2027.
We help with the technical side
At FuerteProyecto we prepare the technical report for the tourist activity, the prior notification of classified activity and the energy certificate for holiday homes in Fuerteventura, including in buildings and complexes with a community of owners. We tell you which documents you need in your case before you file anything.
Call us or message us on WhatsApp at +34 620 395 305, or email info@fuerteproyecto.com.
