A tourist licence is meant to come before the first listing goes up. In practice the order gets reversed often enough: the bookings start, and the warning arrives later, a letter from the town hall or a listing pulled without explanation. Only then does anyone sit down to work out what starting backwards costs.
The amount depends on the autonomous community, because each one has its own tourism law and its own brackets. And there is a prior confusion that gets expensive: two very different fines circulate, and plenty of owners think they are reading theirs when they are reading the other one.
Two different fines: tourist licence and guest report
There are two penalty regimes that have nothing to do with each other, and mixing them up leads to surprises:
- Fine for renting without a tourist licence. Imposed by your autonomous community for operating without being entered in its registry. It depends on each community’s tourism law and is the one in the table below.
- Fine for not filing the guest report. Imposed by the Government Delegate in your autonomous community for breaching RD 933/2021, not by the Ministry of the Interior, which only sanctions very serious offences1. It depends on Ley Orgánica 4/2015 and runs from €100 to €30,000.
Those two figures are the outer edges of the brackets Ley Orgánica 4/2015 sets for minor and serious offences, the two the Government Delegate decides:
“Very serious infringements shall be punished with a fine of 30,001 to 600,000 euros; serious ones, with a fine of 601 to 30,000 euros, and minor ones, with a fine of 100 to 600 euros.”
Very serious offences run to €600,000, but they fall outside the guest report because the Government Delegate does not decide them. The grounds and the aggravating factors are in RD 933/2021 penalties.
They stack. You can have your licence in order and still be fined for not filing the reports, and vice versa. This page covers the first. To understand which licence you need and where to apply, start from the tourist licence by region guide.
Fines for renting without a licence, by region
Regional tourism laws grade offences as minor (leve), serious (grave) and very serious (muy grave). Operating without registration is usually classed as serious (sometimes very serious for repeat offences or for clandestine provision of the service), so the middle bracket is the one that matters most in practice.
| Community | Minor | Serious | Very serious | Law |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andalucía | up to €2,000 | €2,001–18,000 | €18,001–150,000 | Ley 13/20113 |
| Aragón | €60–600 | €601–6,000 | €6,001–90,000 | DLeg 1/20164 |
| Asturias | €150–1,500 | €1,501–15,000 | €15,001–100,000 | Ley 7/20015 |
| Illes Balears | up to €5,000 | €5,001–50,000 | €50,001–500,000 | Ley 8/20126, art. 1237 |
| Canarias | up to €1,500 | €1,501–30,000 | €30,001–300,000 | Ley 7/19958 |
| Cantabria | €250–1,500 | €1,501–15,000 | €15,001–75,000 | Ley 5/19999, Decreto 50/202510 |
| Castilla-La Mancha | up to €600 | €601–6,010 | €6,011–60,010 | Ley 8/199911 |
| Castilla y León | €100–900 | €901–9,000 | €9,001–90,000 | Ley 14/201012 |
| Cataluña | up to €3,000 | €3,001–60,000 | €60,001–600,000 | Ley 13/200213 |
| Comunitat Valenciana | up to €10,000 | €10,001–100,000 | €100,001–600,000 | Ley 15/201814 |
| Extremadura | up to €600 | €601–6,000 | €6,001–60,000 | Ley 2/201115 |
| Galicia | up to €900 | €901–9,000 | €9,001–90,000 | Ley 7/201116 |
| Madrid | up to €3,000 | €3,001–30,000 | €30,001–300,000 | Ley 1/199917 |
| Murcia | up to €1,000 | €1,001–10,000 | €10,001–150,000 | Ley 12/201318 |
| Navarra | up to €1,200 | up to €9,000 | up to €75,000 | Ley Foral 7/200319 |
| País Vasco | up to €10,000 | €10,001–100,000 | €100,001–600,000 | Ley 13/201620 |
| La Rioja | €150–1,200 | €1,201–12,000 | €12,001–150,000 | Ley 2/200121 |
| Melilla | up to €750 | €751–1,500 | €1,501–3,000 | Reglamento de Turismo, art. 5722 |
| Ceuta | not set | not set | not set | Reglamento de Turismo (2010)23 |
Advertising without a licence is already clandestine activity
No booking has to have come in. Several tourism laws catch the listing itself, and Andalucía spells it out:
“Advertising by any means of dissemination, or the actual provision of tourist services, without having complied with the duty to file the declaración responsable […] shall be considered clandestine activity.”
Clandestine provision is a serious offence there, €2,001 to €18,000, and it rises to very serious only through recidivism. The practical consequence for you: the case file does not need guests, a published listing with no registration number is enough. Where the top rung sits, region by region, is in the muy grave offence in holiday rentals.
Ceuta and Melilla go by regulation, not by a tourism law
The two autonomous cities regulate tourism through their own tourism regulation rather than a regional law, and the result looks nothing alike from one to the other.
Melilla does publish a scale. Its Reglamento de Turismo grades fines at up to €750 for minor offences, €751 to €1,500 for serious ones and €1,501 to €3,000 for very serious ones. It puts renting without having declared the activity in the top band:
“The following are considered very serious infringements: […] Offering, providing services and carrying out activities without having filed the declaración responsable required by tourism regulations.”
The scale is the lowest in Spain, though the classification matches that of other regions.
Ceuta publishes none. Its Reglamento de Turismo has no penalties title: it runs from accommodation to associations for tourism development without a single amount23. There the figure has to be confirmed with the autonomous city before relying on any number.
Illes Balears: no DRIAT means serious fines from €30,001
Decreto-ley 4/2025 raised the floor of the serious bracket for anyone marketing stays in residential dwellings that have not filed the DRIAT or the prior notice7. The consolidated tourism law puts it this way:
“A fine of between 30,001 and 50,000 euros shall also be imposed where the infringement provided for in letter g) of article 119 concerns the advertising, contracting or marketing of tourist stays in dwellings of residential use that have not filed the declaración responsable de inicio de actividad turística or the prior notification, and it has not been classified as a very serious infringement.”
So as long as the conduct falls short of very serious, the fine sits between €30,001 and €50,000: the top half of the serious bracket, not the €5,001 where the rest of Balearic serious offences start.
The per-stay paperwork carries a fine of its own
The table measures a single behaviour, operating without being registered. Beside it sits a quieter offence, dealt with in the same proceedings, that almost nobody has on their radar: most Spanish regional tourism laws require a written document to be handed to the guest for every stay, carrying the price, the dates and the details of the accommodation, and a copy to be kept for a set period. Not having it, or refusing to give it to a guest who asks, has its own offence and its own amount.
- Andalusia. Failing to keep mandatory documentation for the prescribed period is a minor offence under article 70.11 of Ley 13/2011, up to €2,0003.
- Illes Balears. Refusing to give a user who asks for it the documentation evidencing the terms of the contract is a serious offence under article 119.aq) of Ley 8/2012, from €5,001 to €50,000, and entering into contracts without stating the registration number is minor, under article 118.l)6.
- Valencia region. Entering into tourism service contracts, whatever their formal medium, that do not meet what the applicable rules require is a minor offence under article 91.5 of Ley 15/2018, punishable by a warning or a fine of up to €10,00014.
The document is not the same in the three regions, and the timing changes how you work: Andalusia requires it on arrival and signed by the guest, the Valencia region before admission and signed by nobody, and the Balearics before the client even accepts the booking, signed or with receipt otherwise evidenced. The procedure and duties region by region are in the tourist licence by region guide.
Beyond the fine: listing removal and cessation of activity
The fine is paid once. The measures that come with it keep eating into revenue for as long as they last.
- Listing removal. Airbnb, Booking and the rest require a valid registration number and remove listings that don’t publish it. No listing, no bookings.
- Cessation of activity. Many regional laws allow ordering the closure or temporary shutdown of the dwelling as an accessory penalty, on top of the fine.
- Repeat offences. Reoffending usually raises the bracket (from serious to very serious) and can lead to permanent closure and cancellation of the registration.
Catalan tourism law attaches time limits to the closure, which are useful for the order of magnitude:
“Infringements of this law are penalised by application of the following measures: […] b) Serious infringements, with a fine of between 3,001 and 60,000 euros or, if the nature and gravity of the infringement make it advisable, with suspension of the activity or temporary closure of the establishment, for a maximum period of one year.”
In the very serious bracket the same article stretches temporary closure to two years and allows permanent closure of the establishment.
How to avoid the fine for renting without a licence
Registering the dwelling is usually a free declaración responsable, not an authorisation you have to wait for: you file it and it lets you start the activity. You have the step-by-step by region in our tourist licence guide.
And once you operate with your licence in order, the daily obligation remains: the guest report. That is the part RegistroViajero automates, so the second fine never catches you. Start with the SES.HOSPEDAJES guide.
The amounts come from the regional tourism laws in force on the publication date and may be updated. The exact classification of each case depends on the circumstances; always verify the detail with your community’s law.
Sources
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Ley Orgánica 4/2015, Article 32.1.c), consolidated text (BOE). ↩
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Ley Orgánica 4/2015, Article 39.1, consolidated text (BOE). ↩
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Ley 13/2011, de 23 de diciembre, del Turismo de Andalucía, consolidated text (BOE). ↩ ↩2 ↩3
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Decreto Legislativo 1/2016, de 26 de julio, texto refundido de la Ley del Turismo de Aragón (BOE). ↩
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Ley 7/2001, de 22 de junio, de Turismo (Principado de Asturias), consolidated text (BOE). ↩
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Ley 8/2012, de 19 de julio, del Turismo de las Illes Balears, consolidated text (BOE). ↩ ↩2 ↩3
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Decreto-ley 4/2025, of 11 April, against illegal supply and for tourism quality in the Illes Balears, article 2.14 (BOE). ↩ ↩2
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Ley 7/1995, de 6 de abril, de Ordenación del Turismo de Canarias, consolidated text (BOE). ↩
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Ley 5/1999, of 24 March, on the regulation of tourism in Cantabria, articles 60 to 62, consolidated text (BOE). ↩
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Decreto 50/2025, of 24 July, on tourist-use dwellings in Cantabria, BOC extraordinary no. 15 of 24 July 2025, PDF (Gobierno de Cantabria). ↩
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Ley 8/1999, de 26 de mayo, de Ordenación del Turismo de Castilla-La Mancha, consolidated text (BOE). ↩
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Ley 14/2010, de 9 de diciembre, de turismo de Castilla y León, consolidated text (BOE). ↩
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Ley 13/2002, de 21 de junio, de turismo de Cataluña, consolidated text (BOE). ↩ ↩2
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Ley 15/2018, de 7 de junio, de turismo, ocio y hospitalidad de la Comunitat Valenciana, consolidated text (BOE). ↩ ↩2
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Ley 2/2011, de 31 de enero, de desarrollo y modernización del turismo de Extremadura, consolidated text (BOE). ↩
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Ley 7/2011, de 27 de octubre, del Turismo de Galicia, consolidated text (BOE). ↩
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Ley 1/1999, de 12 de marzo, de Ordenación del Turismo de la Comunidad de Madrid, consolidated text (BOE). ↩
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Ley 12/2013, de 20 de diciembre, de Turismo de la Región de Murcia, consolidated text (BOE). ↩
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Ley Foral 7/2003, de 14 de febrero, de turismo (Navarra), consolidated text (BOE). ↩
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Ley 13/2016, de 28 de julio, de Turismo (País Vasco), consolidated text (BOE). ↩
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Ley 2/2001, de 31 de mayo, de Turismo de La Rioja, consolidated text (PDF, BOE). ↩
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Decreto no. 351, of 19 July 2010, Tourism Regulation of Melilla, articles 55.A) and 57.1.b), BOME extraordinary no. 12, PDF (Ciudad Autónoma de Melilla). ↩ ↩2
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Reglamento de Turismo of 30 November 2010, full text (Ciudad Autónoma de Ceuta), accessed 14 August 2026. ↩ ↩2
