Tourist licence in Catalonia: requirements and registration

To get a tourist licence in Catalonia, first ask your town hall whether it accepts new holiday lets. If it does, and your town is on the list of 262 municipalities, you need a planning licence first. Then you register the home online. At the end you get your HUT number.

The order matters. If you skip the first step, your registration may count for nothing. This guide is for anyone who wants to open a holiday let in Catalonia, and for owners who already have one and want to know what applies to them.

First, check whether your town hall accepts new holiday lets

Before you buy furniture or start building work, ask the town hall one question: can I open a holiday let here?

There are three possible answers:

• Yes, no conditions. Your town has no special limits. Move on to the requirements for the home.
• Yes, with a planning licence. Your town is on the list of Decree-law 3/2023. You get that licence first, then register.
• Not for now. The town hall has suspended new licences. If you register anyway, the Generalitat says it «will count as not filed». In other words, it has no effect.

Check your town hall’s website or call them. Ask about your street too: some suspensions only cover certain neighbourhoods.

Requirements for a holiday let in Catalonia

A HUT is a home you rent whole to tourists, for 31 days or less at a time. You cannot rent single rooms under this registration. That is a different category, the shared home (llar compartida), with its own procedure.

The home must meet these conditions:

1. Have a cédula de habitabilidad. This is the certificate that says the home is fit to live in and how many people it holds.
2. Not exceed those places. Never more than the certificate allows, and never more than 15.
3. Be furnished and equipped. Ready to move into, clean and in good repair.
4. Give a phone number. For guests and neighbours, to sort out problems straight away.
5. Have maintenance and assistance. Someone who fixes whatever breaks.
6. Show on display the registration number, the maximum number of guests and the phone number.
7. Give guests the building’s rules, if the owners’ association has any. At least in Catalan, Spanish, English and French.

The paperwork is light. If someone else files for you, you need a signed authorisation from the owner.

The prior planning licence in 262 municipalities

The Generalitat’s Decree-law 3/2023 added a step in 262 municipalities. These are towns and cities where housing is hard to afford, or that have 5 or more holiday lets per 100 residents. Barcelona, Girona, Lleida and Tarragona are on the list.

If your home is in one of them, this changes:

• You get a planning licence from the town hall before you register. Until it is granted, you cannot register.
• The licence lasts five years. It can be extended for another five if the town plan allows it.
• There is a cap. At most 10 holiday lets per 100 residents.
• The town plan has to allow it. The town hall cannot grant new licences until it adapts its plan to the decree.

That last point is the one people miss. In many listed towns you cannot apply for a new licence today, because the plan has not been adapted yet. Ask before you invest.

The official list is in the annex to Decree-law 3/2023, in Catalan. Spain’s Constitutional Court upheld the decree in March 2025.

How to register and get your HUT number

Once the town hall says yes, and you have the planning licence if you need one, you can register the home. Here is how:

1. Get a digital ID. You need a digital certificate or idCAT Mòbil. A company uses its legal representative’s certificate.
2. Open the procedure «Comunicar el inicio de actividad de una vivienda de uso turístico» (notify the start of a holiday let) on the Generalitat’s procedures website. It can only be done online.
3. Download the form, fill it in and send it. You file it with the single business window, Canal Empresa.
4. Keep the receipt. It comes with a code. That code is your provisional number.
5. Pay the municipal fee, if your town hall charges one. With proof of payment you can start renting.

The registration is valid from the day you send it. The town hall then checks your details and passes them to the Catalan Tourism Register (RTC). The register gives you your final number, the NIRTC. It is the number that starts with HUT, such as HUTB-123456 or HUTG-123456.

Until the final number arrives, use the provisional one at the home and in your listings. When it arrives, switch to it. To see whether your number already shows in the register, follow how to check a tourist registration number in Catalonia.

How much it costs and how long it takes

The Generalitat charges nothing to register. What you pay depends on your town hall:

There is no single price for all of Catalonia. Be wary of guides that quote a total without knowing your town.

Timing works the same way. The registration is valid from the moment you send it. The planning licence, when you need one, takes as long as your town hall takes. Ask them how long it usually is.

If you already run a registered holiday let

If your home was registered before 9 November 2023, what applies depends on the town.

Outside the 262 municipalities, Decree-law 3/2023 changes nothing for you. Keep meeting the requirements above.

Inside the 262 municipalities, you have five years to get the new planning licence. If you do not get it, you must stop renting. The clock started on 9 November 2023, so it runs out around 9 November 2028.

You can ask for an extension of up to five more years. You can only ask in the last year of the period, and you have to show that the waiting period does not make up for what you lose.

Barcelona is the best-known case. In June 2024 the city council announced it will not renew holiday let licences. It wants them to stop operating in November 2028. Until then, an active HUTB number is still valid.

If you are buying a flat that already has a HUT number, ask the town hall first. The decree does not explain how the licence passes from one owner to the next.

What to do once guests arrive

With the number in hand, each booking brings its own tasks:

• Show the HUT number in your listings. Catalan tourism law requires it in all advertising. The steps are in how to add your registration number on Airbnb and Booking.
• Collect the tourist tax. In Catalonia the guest pays it and you file it. Rates are in the tourist tax in Spain.
• Send guest details to the Mossos d’Esquadra, the Catalan police. In Catalonia they do not go to SES.Hospedajes. You send them on the Mossos website within 24 hours of each guest’s arrival. We explain it in guest registration in Spain.

If you also have homes in other regions, the map of what the licence is called in each one is in the tourist licence in Spain. If this is your first holiday rental, the order of every step, from the owners’ association to registering with the tax office, is in how to start a vacation rental from scratch.

Frequently asked questions

When do you need a tourist licence in Catalonia? When you rent a whole home to tourists for 31 days or less at a time, for money. It makes no difference whether you or a manager do it. A stay longer than 31 days is not a HUT. Which contract applies then is in the holiday rental contract.

How do I get a tourist licence in Catalonia? First ask the town hall whether it accepts new holiday lets. If your town is on the Decree-law 3/2023 list, get the planning licence. Then register online through Canal Empresa and wait for your HUT number.

How much does a tourist licence in Catalonia cost? Registering with the Generalitat is free. Your town hall may charge a fee, and charge for the planning licence if you need one. Each town hall sets its own amounts, so there is no single price.

How do I get the tourist registration number? You do not apply for it separately. When you register, the town hall checks your details and passes them to the Catalan Tourism Register. The register gives you the final number, the NIRTC, which starts with HUT.

Can I rent out rooms in my home with a HUT? No. A HUT covers the whole home. Renting rooms in the home where you live is a shared home (llar compartida), with its own procedure at the Generalitat.

Details and sources

• Registration procedure. Comunicar el inicio de actividad de una vivienda de uso turístico, on Trámites Gencat (form HUT001SOLC). The filing takes effect when it reaches the single business window, and the activity can start once the applicable fees are paid. If the town has suspended or limited licences, the filing «will count as not filed and therefore have no legal effect». The Generalitat charges no fee for this procedure. Checked on 19 October 2026.
• Requirements. From the same page and the Canal Empresa FAQ: habitability certificate; capacity no higher than the certificate and never above 15; furnished and equipped; a phone for guests and neighbours; maintenance and assistance; NIRTC, maximum capacity and phone on display; the building’s house rules, if any, in Catalan, Spanish, English and French. A HUT is let whole («letting by rooms is not allowed») and the registration cannot be used for a shared home.
• Tourism rules. Decree 75/2020 on tourism in Catalonia regulates holiday lets.
• Decree-law 3/2023. Consolidated text on the BOE. Article 1: a prior planning licence lasting five years, renewable for equal periods. Additional provision 27 of the Catalan planning law: tourist use is only compatible with housing if the town plan expressly allows it, with a maximum of 10 holiday lets per 100 residents. Second transitional provision: homes already registered have five years from entry into force (9 November 2023) to obtain the licence or stop, with an extension of up to five years requested after four years and before the first period ends. Canal Empresa estimated that 95,094 homes were affected, on its page about the decree, which also says town halls cannot grant new licences until they adapt their plans.
• Constitutional Court. Judgment 64/2025 of 13 March dismissed the challenge to Decree-law 3/2023.
• Barcelona. In June 2024 the city council announced it will not renew HUT licences and wants them to stop operating in November 2028, under Decree-law 3/2023. Check the plan’s status with the council before you decide.
• Penalties. According to Canal Empresa, offering tourist accommodation without registration is a serious or very serious offence, with fines from €3,001 to €600,000.
• Guest registration. Mossos d’Esquadra procedure: online, within 24 hours of each person’s stay starting.