The supreme court overturns the single register of tourist accomodations

Five autonomous communities, including Andalucía, challenged this measure, and the ruling by the supreme court stated that the central government does not have the authority to create such a register, siding with the regions that do hold these powers.

The court addressed in its judgment No. 620/2026 the nullity of the single registration procedure for short-term rentals intended to be advertised through digital platforms, regulated under royal decree 1312/2024 of 23 December.

This was done on the grounds that the government “lacks the constitutional authority to establish a comprehensive regulation for a national register, which overlaps with the existing regional registers, concerning the registration of properties intended for tourist lettings”. Around 75,000 holiday rental properties in the province of Malaga are affected by this system.

The court, in response to the appeal lodged by the Valencian regional government, stated that it partially upholds the appeal, annulling only those provisions establishing the so-called single register of leases. It also dismissed the appeal in relation to the provisions governing the digital one-stop shop for tenancies, the obligations imposed on online platforms to transmit data and the transmission of data for statistical purposes.

The ruling began by recognising that there is "a growing concern, both at the European Union and national level, about the rental of short-term accommodation using the services of online platforms", and that an attempt is being made to curb the abuses that have been occurring in the use of this type of rental to circumvent state regulations on long-term rentals.

However, it considers that the core of the debate focuses on determining whether or not the government had the authority to issue this regulation, and the court concluded that it does not have the right to do so in certain aspects.

To this end, it analyses different jurisdictional titles: civil legislation and organisation of public registers and instruments (art. 149.1.18 CE), basic conditions that guarantee the equality of all Spaniards in the exercise of rights and in the fulfilment of constitutional duties (art. 149.1.1 CE), bases and coordination of the general planning of economic activity (art. 149.1.13 CE), statistics for state purposes (art. 149.1.31 CE). And it rejects that the exhaustive regulation of the new single register at national level is covered by any of them.

“The judgment considers that this does not constitute substantive regulation of short-term lettings, nor is the purpose of the established registration procedure to register a tenancy agreement or restrictions on ownership so that they may take effect against third parties.

"Rather, it concerns a single registration procedure relating to properties, or parts thereof, which enables a registration number to be obtained as a necessary requirement in order to offer a short-term rental or letting service through online platforms, without the legislative competence under Article 149.1.8 of the Spanish Constitution (in relation to the organisation of public registers) being suitable for regulating a procedure and registration of this nature,” it stated.

This is in addition to the fact that it rejects the possibility of relying on the heading “bases and coordination of the general planning of economic activity” (Article 149.1.13 of the Spanish Constitution), since the regulation is considered to go beyond what may be regarded as specific “basic provisions” or “coordination measures”, in order to “establish an exhaustive regulation of a national register: this overlaps with the existing regional registers in relation to the registration of properties intended for tourist lettings”.

The court only recognised the government’s authority to regulate the digital one-stop shop, the coordination of one-stop shops and the data transmission obligations of online platforms for statistical purposes, exercising its powers relating to the “coordination of the general planning of economic activity and statistics for State purposes”.

 Final judgment 

It is worth recalling that this single register promoted by the government came into force on 2 January 2025, although it was not implemented until 1 July of last year. It required all tourist accommodation in the country - already registered in their respective regional authorities and subject to each region’s requirements - to gather extensive documentation and, upon payment, go through a land registry official in order to operate on short-term rental platforms. Many properties have, in the meantime, been taken off the market for being unable to provide all the required documentation, affecting 70 per cent of accommodations in rural areas.

In this regard the central government sub-delegation in Malaga reported that in Andalucía more than 25,100 illegal dwellings have been identified - accounting for more than one in four of all such cases in Spain - for not being registered in this single register. These are the same properties which may now be eligible to make claims, according to experts in this field.

Wednesday 20 May marked the end of the deadline given to Spain last February by the European Commission body that oversees the preventive scrutiny of Member States’ technical legislation to protect the single market, TRIS, to put an end to the administrative duplication imposed on tourist accommodation in Andalucía. These properties have been required since 2016 to register in the regional tourism register, under the competent regional authority, and since last year also in the single register promoted by the national government for these properties across the country. However, the government has continued to push ahead with this system, which has now been overturned by the supreme court.

The acting tourism minsiter of the Junta de Andalucía, Arturo Bernal, said that the supreme court “has ruled in favour of Andalucía by annulling the single registry for short-term rentals for infringing regional powers, exactly what the regional government had been warning for more than a year". "This is not a technicality: it is yet another piece of evidence that the government of Pedro Sánchez legislates from ideology and turns its back on the legal system and respect for devolved competences,” he claimed.

He added that Andalucía challenged this regulation in May 2025, arguing an encroachment on devolved powers and a lack of institutional dialogue. “Today the supreme court has ruled in our favour. The court itself clarifies that the European regulation did not require a nationwide registry nor did it alter the internal distribution of powers. The duplication was a political decision, not a requirement from Brussels,” he said, before strongly criticising what he called “the blatant irresponsibility of the central government". “It imposed a mandatory single registry from 1 July 2025 without the necessary constitutional or legal basis, ignoring warnings about legal uncertainty that the regions had been raising for months. Legislating through imposition and improvisation has consequences: rules that are dead on arrival, that generate administrative chaos, and that end up being struck down in the courts. Brussels had already warned of this.”

Bernal concluded by saying, “This decision also confirms the negligible weight that tourism has in the council of ministers, despite being one of Spain’s main economic engines and, especially, of Andalucía. Legislation is being made about the sector without involving the sector and without involving those who hold the responsibility. That is not how you govern: that is improvisation.” He has now asked the government: “Who is going to cover the costs caused by this botched job?”

For more Spain news click here