Spain NRUA: What Changed After the Supreme Court Ruling (2026)

For eighteen months Spain ran two counters for the same thing. The state one closed on 8 June 2026, the day the BOE published the Supreme Court judgment of 19 May that annulled the single registration procedure of Royal Decree 1312/2024. Owners who went through the Property Registry ended up holding a number nobody asks them for any more, alongside their autonomous community’s, which was the one that mattered all along.

None of it touches Royal Decree 933/2021, the other obligation this gets confused with weekly, since both involve tourist rentals and data.

Hence the two questions that arrive every week: which number goes on the Airbnb listing, and what becomes of last year’s paperwork and the fee that came with it.

What happened to the state single registry (RD 1312/2024)

Royal Decree 1312/2024 created a state single registry of rentals, processed through the Property Registry or the Movable Property Registry¹. That is where the NRUA came from: under that rule, the number without which you could not list an accommodation on a platform.

The Supreme Court annulled it on 19 May 2026, and the ruling was published in the BOE on 8 June 2026, the date from which the annulment binds everyone²:

“Anular los preceptos del Real Decreto impugnado referidos al procedimiento de registro único de arrendamientos y la obligación de la inscripción en el Registro de la Propiedad o en el de Bienes Muebles para obtener un numero de registro que permita ofrecer los servicios de alquiler de alojamientos de corta duración a través de las plataformas en línea.” (To annul the provisions of the contested Royal Decree concerning the single rental registration procedure and the obligation to register with the Property Registry or the Movable Property Registry in order to obtain a registration number allowing short-term accommodation rental services to be offered through online platforms.)

The operative part then lists the provisions that fall, and each one was a piece of the procedure:

• Article 5, in full. It required the landlord to obtain the number before listing and to pass it to the platforms.
• Articles 8, 9 and 10, in full. They created the single registry, governed the application for a number, and imposed its verification by the registrar.
• Article 2, letters f) and i). The definitions of the single registration procedure and of the registration number. Letter j) falls as regards registration procedures.
• Articles 1 and 6, as regards the single registry. The purpose of the rule, and the platforms’ duty to demand the number and display it on the listing.
• Article 12, letters b) and c). They named the registrar as competent authority and, for non-tourist rentals, the Ministry of Housing.
• Second additional provision. The voluntary registration number for long-term residential leases.
• First final provision, as regards the competence titles, plus any other mention of the single registry elsewhere in the decree.

The BOE consolidated text already marks article 8, the one that created the registry, as “(Anulado)”³.

What did not fall is the rest of the royal decree, because the operative part closes by dismissing the appeal “en todo lo demás” (in all other respects)²:

For you the upshot is short: there is no state number to apply for, and no platform can demand one. The number that must appear on your listings is your autonomous community’s tourist registration number. The platforms’ data duties keep running, but they are theirs and require nothing from you.

What if you already hold the state number and paid the fee

The number you were granted is not cancelled. The ruling annuls provisions; it does not order the withdrawal of numbers already assigned, nor impose any step on the people holding them. What happened is that the number stopped being useful: article 8, which created the registry it lived in, is no longer in force.

The fee is the other half of the question. The Colegio de Registradores set the procedure at 27 euros per number application, taxes and withholdings not included⁴. The ruling says nothing about that money: it annuls the provisions and awards no costs, and it creates no refund mechanism. Keep the invoices and the full file, since they are the basis of any claim.

The full breakdown of the ruling and its retroactive effects is in Spain’s Supreme Court annuls the NRUA single rental registry.

What the tourist accommodation registration number is

It is the code that proves your accommodation is legally registered as a short-term tourist rental (vivienda de uso turístico, VUT) with your autonomous community. The name varies by region:

• Número de inscripción in the Registro de Empresas Turísticas (Community of Madrid) or the Registro de Turismo de Castilla y León
• Número de inscripción RTA (Andalusia, Registro de Turismo de Andalucía)
• Número de inscripción en el Registro de Turismo (Valencian Community, Canary Islands)

If you already hold a tourist licence from your autonomous community, that number is the one you need. Registration happens, and has always happened, at the regional level.

Why Airbnb, Booking, and VRBO require the registration number

EU Regulation 2024/1028 on short-term accommodation rentals entered into force in 2024. It requires major online platforms to collect, verify, and share host registration data with public authorities, and the registration number is the piece the whole system turns on.

From 20 May 2026, platforms are required to⁵:

1. Offer a self-declaration interface where the host enters their registration number (article 7.1.a).
2. Require that number and display it on the listing before allowing the offer (article 7.1.b). With no number, the platform does not publish the listing.
3. Run periodic random checks on the numbers declared (article 7.1.c) and report to the competent authority any host whose number is missing or invalid (article 7.2).
4. Transmit the activity data of listings located in a registration area on the article 13.1.b list: nights rented, guests per night and country of residence, together with the registration number, the exact address and the listing URL (articles 9.1 and 3.12). This is not reservation data, and it identifies no guest.

That is where the platform’s role ends. Suspending or withdrawing a registration number, and ordering an already published listing to come down, are acts of the competent authority, not of Airbnb or Booking (articles 6.3, 6.4, 6.6 and 6.11).

Airbnb and Booking have been asking for the registration number in their listing forms for years in many Spanish regions. What changes in May 2026 is that the number stops being optional: without a valid one the listing never goes live, and a published listing comes down when the authority orders it. The exact format each region expects is in which registration number goes on Airbnb and Booking.

What happens without a tourist registration number

• Your listing can be removed from platforms from May 2026 onwards⁵.
• Your autonomous community can fine you for operating an unregistered tourist rental. Each region’s tourism act sets the amounts: in Catalonia a serious infringement runs from €3,001 to €60,000⁶, and in the Valencian Community from €10,001 to €100,000⁷.
• Your SES.HOSPEDAJES setup may be incomplete. The establishment code (código de establecimiento) is separate from the tourist registration number, but most regions require active tourist registration before you can operate.

The full region-by-region penalty table is in renting without a tourist licence.

Where to apply for the registration number in each region

Registration is managed by each autonomous community. There is no single national process. Key regions:

Documents typically required to register a tourist rental

Requirements vary by region, but the core is consistent:

• Responsible declaration (declaración responsable) or registration application form.
• Cadastral reference (referencia catastral) of the property.
• Proof of ownership or entitlement (title deed, land registry note, or rental agreement if subletting, where permitted).
• Floor plan or habitability certificate (cédula de habitabilidad; varies by region).
• Public liability insurance (required in Andalusia, Canary Islands, and others).
• Energy performance certificate (required in some regions).

In most communities registration works via responsible declaration: you submit the documents and receive your registration number immediately or within a few working days, and you can operate straight away. If there are irregularities, the authority can revoke the registration retroactively.

Tourist registry and RD 933/2021: two separate obligations

The two get confused daily because both involve tourist rentals and data. The NRUA registered the property and answered to the Ministry of Housing; RD 933/2021 registers the guests and answers to the Ministry of the Interior⁸. With the state layer annulled, the comparison that matters is between the regional tourist registration number, which is the number that takes its place, and the guest reports:

Both are mandatory, and neither replaces the other.

FAQ

Is the NRUA still mandatory in 2026? The NRUA is no longer mandatory in 2026. Spain’s Supreme Court annulled the state single registry under RD 1312/2024 in ruling 620/2026 of 19 May 2026, for encroaching on regional powers, and the ruling was published in the BOE on 8 June. What remains mandatory is the tourist registration number from your autonomous community: that is the number Airbnb, Booking, and the other platforms verify.

Which registration number do Airbnb and Booking ask for? Airbnb and Booking ask for the registration number from your autonomous community’s tourist registry (RTA in Andalusia, Registre de Turisme in Catalonia, and so on). From 20 May 2026, EU Regulation 2024/1028 requires platforms to ask every host for it, display it on the listing and refuse to publish an offer without one, on top of running random checks and reporting to the authority. Taking down an already published listing is ordered by the competent authority, not by the platform.

Is the tourist registration number the same as SES.HOSPEDAJES? The tourist registration number is not the same as SES.HOSPEDAJES: they are two separate, cumulative obligations. The tourist registration number identifies the property, is managed by your autonomous community, and is processed once per accommodation. SES.HOSPEDAJES registers the guests person by person, is run by the Ministry of the Interior, and applies at every check-in under RD 933/2021. One does not replace the other.

What should I do if I already obtained the annulled state number? If you already obtained the annulled state number, there is nothing you need to file: the ruling annuls provisions, it does not order the cancellation of numbers already granted. That number is no longer any use for listing, so check that your autonomous community’s number appears correctly on your listings. Keep the fee invoices and the file, because the ruling creates no refund mechanism and they are the basis of any claim.

Pre-season checklist: tourist registration, listings and guest reports

• Hold the registration number from your autonomous community’s tourist registry.
• Publish it correctly on your Airbnb, Booking, and VRBO listings.
• Have your lessor code (código de arrendador) and SES.HOSPEDAJES credentials (how to get them).
• Collect the RD 933/2021 guest data before arrival through digital check-in.
• Submit guest reports to SES.HOSPEDAJES within the legal deadline⁸.

Tourist registration is handled by your autonomous community and is usually done once per accommodation. The part that repeats with every booking is a different one: digital check-in, the RD 933/2021 required data, and the guest report to the Ministry. That is what RegistroViajero does, without copying information by hand.