Catalonia Tourist Flat Licences: the 2028 Deadline Stands

Few parliamentary votes are followed as closely from a property manager’s desk. On the table was the whole Catalan regime for tourist flats (HUT, habitatge d’ús turístic): the prior urban licence, the density ceiling, and an expiry date for the flats already operating.

On 30 June 2026 the Catalan Parliament settled the question: the Junts party’s bill to repeal the Decree-Law 3/2023 regime fell at the first hurdle¹, with PSC, ERC, Comuns and CUP voting it down (71 votes to 50, Vox abstaining)², according to the party-by-party count published by Crónica Global³.

Here is what the rule actually says, your options by situation, and what is happening in Barcelona, which is a case of its own.

What Decree-Law 3/2023 says, without varnish

Decree-Law 3/2023, in force since 9 November 2023, changed the rules in the 262 municipalities listed in its annex⁴. The list mixes two profiles, defined in the first transitional provision: municipalities with housing access problems (a proven housing need plus either rent or mortgage costs that, with bills and utilities, exceed 30 % of median household income, or house prices that grew at least 3 points above Catalan CPI over the previous five years) and municipalities at risk of imbalance for having 5 or more tourist flats per 100 residents when the rule was approved. The annex includes the four provincial capitals (Barcelona, Girona, Lleida and Tarragona), L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Badalona, Terrassa, Sabadell, Mataró and Sant Cugat del Vallès, and almost the entire tourist coast: Lloret de Mar, Blanes, Tossa de Mar, Roses, Cadaqués, Begur, Palafrugell, Sitges, Castelldefels, Calafell, Salou, Cambrils and Vila-seca, among others.

For those municipalities, the decree sets three rules:

• Prior urban licence. Devoting a dwelling to tourist use in those municipalities requires an urban-planning licence, grantable only where the municipal plan expressly allows that use.
• Density ceiling. No new licences where the municipality already exceeds 10 tourist flats per 100 residents.
• Licences with an expiry date. New licences last 5 years, renewable for equal periods if planning still allows it.

And the flats that already existed? The second transitional provision gave them 5 years from entry into force to keep operating:

“Duly authorised tourist dwellings located in municipalities with housing access problems, and in municipalities at risk of breaking the balance of the urban environment through a high concentration of tourist dwellings, must hold an urban-planning licence in accordance with the twenty-seventh additional provision of the consolidated Urban Planning Act […] in order to carry on this activity within five years of the entry into force of this Decree-Law, or cease their activity.”

Five years from 9 November 2023 lands in November 2028. When that date arrives, you either hold the new urban licence or you cease activity. A legal detail that surprises almost everyone: those 5 years of transitional operation are, per the rule itself, the compensation.

“The transitional regime provided for in the preceding paragraphs constitutes, for all those affected, compensation for all matters relating to the changes introduced by this Decree-Law in connection with the new urban-planning regime for tourist dwellings.”

No money is foreseen for the extinction: what the rule gives in exchange for the lost title is the transitional period itself. The only door it leaves open is the extension for uncompensated investment.

The extension of up to 5 years for uncompensated investment

The same transitional provision opens a route for specific cases:

“If the holder of a tourist dwelling […] proves that the transitional regime of this provision does not compensate for the loss of the tourist-dwelling authorisation, they may request a single extension of the transitional regime of up to five further years. The extension must be requested from the municipality where the dwelling is located once four years have elapsed since the entry into force of this Decree-Law and before the end of the transitional period provided for in paragraph 1.”

Translated into a file, that is four conditions:

• Who. The holder of a tourist flat that was already authorised on 9 November 2023 and sits in an annex municipality.
• What must be proven. That the 5 transitional years do not compensate for the loss of the authorisation: the investment made in the dwelling is not recovered within that period.
• How much. A single extension of up to 5 further years. The rule calls it single: there is no second extension.
• Where and when. Requested from the town hall where the dwelling is located, from the fourth year of the transition until the fifth ends, so the practical window runs from November 2027 to November 2028.

It is not automatic: you must show with numbers that your investment was not amortised during the transition. If you bought or renovated shortly before November 2023, document that investment now; it will be the backbone of the file.

Barcelona’s plan: no HUT licence renewals in 2028

Barcelona concentrates some 10,101 HUT licences⁶ and its city council announced in June 2024 that there will be no renewal when the Decree-Law window closes: the city wants those dwellings back in residential use from November 2028⁷.

The legal arm-wrestle is ongoing. Catalonia’s high court has been rejecting the Apartur association’s challenges to the city’s limits, though some appeals remain open, and in June 2026 the association demanded the city withdraw its “end of licences” campaign, arguing no formal extinction act exists yet⁸. The city maintains the plan. The prudent reading for an owner: plan around extinction in November 2028 and treat any judicial twist as a pleasant surprise, not the other way round.

The PP’s Constitutional Court appeal does not suspend the HUT regime

You may have read that “the Constitutional Court suspended the Catalan rules”. Not so. What happened: the Court admitted on 9 June 2026 the PP party’s appeal (2415-2026) against several articles of Law 11/2025, the Catalan law that extended rent containment to seasonal and room rentals⁹. The order published in the BOE spells out what is challenged:

“The Plenary of the Constitutional Court, by order of 9 June 2026, has agreed to admit for consideration constitutional appeal number 2415-2026, brought by more than fifty members of the Popular Parliamentary Group in Congress, against articles 2.2, 3.8, 5.5, 5.6, 5.8, 5.9, 5.14, 5.15 and 8.1 of Catalan Law 11/2025, of 29 December, on housing and urban-planning measures.”

Two clarifications:

1. Admission suspends nothing: Law 11/2025 remains fully in force. A regional law is suspended pending judgment only when the appeal is brought by the national Government invoking article 161.2 of the Constitution; an appeal by a group of members of parliament carries no suspension¹⁰.
2. That law concerns seasonal and room rentals, not the HUT licence regime of Decree-Law 3/2023, which this appeal does not touch: no article of the Decree-Law appears in the order.

What to do with your HUT, by situation

One thing changes in no scenario: while the flat operates, guest registration with the Mossos d’Esquadra remains mandatory for every guest, with its own penalty regime. The licence and guest registration are separate obligations, enforced separately.

Catalonia is not the only region that put a date on something in 2026: Madrid rewrote the physical requirements for its tourist rental homes with Decree 27/2026, with an adaptation deadline in April 2029.

Frequently asked questions

What exactly happens in November 2028? In November 2028 the 5-year transitional period of Decree-Law 3/2023 ends for tourist flats that already operated in the 262 annex municipalities. To continue, you will need the new urban licence (where planning allows) or the single extension of up to 5 years for uncompensated investment.

Did the Parliament vote change anything? The Parliament vote changed nothing. It rejected the repeal, so everything stands: prior licence, the 10-per-100 ceiling, and the November 2028 horizon.

Is there compensation if my licence is extinguished? There is no money paid out if your licence is extinguished: the rule treats the 5 transitional years of operation as the compensation. The only extra route is the extension for uncompensated investment, which must be applied for and proven.

Does the PP’s Constitutional Court appeal suspend the rules? The PP’s Constitutional Court appeal does not suspend the rules. The admitted appeal targets Law 11/2025 (seasonal and room rentals), not the HUT regime, and admission does not suspend a law.

Can I sell my dwelling with its HUT licence? Yes, you can sell your dwelling with its HUT licence, since the habilitation travels with the property and a change-of-holder procedure exists. The buyer, though, inherits the same calendar: November 2028 does not reset with the sale.

This article is informational and is not legal advice. Transitional deadlines depend on each municipality’s designation date: check your specific case against the current annex and with your town hall.