Malaga prepares urgent measure to stop conversion of commercial premises into housing

A simple stroll through any of Malaga's neighborhoods is enough to confirm that converting commercial premises into housing is an increasingly common trend in the city. According to data concerning the building permits the municipal planning department issues, the city council has authorised 695 conversions of ground-floor establishments into housing across all districts over the past two years, including the first four months of 2026.

This stems from the current housing crisis and such authorisations are becoming increasingly common. But the city council does not want them to continue expanding uncontrollably.

For this reason, city officials and urban planning officers are studying an urgent measure that will, at least temporarily, halt the conversion of commercial premises into housing until new regulations are established. This follows a pattern similar to the three-year moratorium on tourist flats.

Behind this initiative are two arguments that particularly concern city officials. On the one hand, the progressive loss of commercial space in some neighborhoods is disrupting the balance of use in different parts of the city. On the other hand, there is the suspicion that many of these commercial spaces end up as tourist rental flats.

The current moratorium on tourist flats in Malaga theoretically bans them in any part of the city, including upper floors and ground-floor commercial spaces. However, for conversions into three or more dwellings, the owner can obtain permits from the city council and the Andalusian regional government to operate them as a group of tourist flats. The moratorium does not apply to them.

According to data from building permit records since 2024, the vast majority of applications for changes of use of commercial premises to housing typically result in one or two flats. There are, however, cases of three, four, six or even more flats that could end up being used for tourist accommodation.

From January to April 2026, the urban planning department authorised 45 renovations of commercial premises, of which four resulted in three flats, two in four flats and one in five flats, all of which could legally be used as tourist accommodation. During 2025, there were 23 applications for three or more flats in the same situation.

Uurban planning officials do not want this phenomenon, which stems from limited supply and increasingly exorbitant prices, to become the norm. To this end, they are working on an urgent legal measure to curb it and establish regulations.

In recent months, opposition groups in the city council have warned that the flat-turned tourist rentals not only provide housing for some families, but also serve as a way to circumvent the restrictions imposed in recent years to curb tourist rental properties. For this reason, they have called for increased monitoring and inspections.

According to data, 2024 was the year of the boom in converting commercial premises into housing, with 421 such applications. In 2025, there were more than 230, although there are some gaps in the statistics the city council published that could mean that figure is higher.

At present, what legal recourse the urban planning technicians are analysing to curb this trend remains unknown. To convert a commercial space into a dwelling, owners must meet a series of requirements regarding height, lighting, ventilation and surface area. The height must be at least 2.70 metres, all habitable rooms must have an opening for natural light and ventilation and the surface area of each resulting dwelling cannot be less than 30.5 square metres.

It is also necessary to verify whether the building where the commercial space is located has already reached the maximum dwelling density urban planning regulations allow. If the premises meet these conditions, the owner must submit an adaptation project, signed by a qualified professional, to the urban planning department.