The April 2025 amendment to the Ley de Propiedad Horizontal changed the licensing landscape for new VUT applications in community buildings. In Marbella, where many gated developments now exercise that change actively, the rule shapes what's possible for new owners more than in any other city we work in. Here's the working version of how it actually plays out.
What the rule does
Since April 2025, a new VUT application in a community building requires a 3/5 majority vote of owners in favour of permitting short-term rental use. The rule applies only to new applications. Licences granted before April 2025 are grandfathered — they keep their status under the previous regime, regardless of how the community might vote today.
This is a genuinely important distinction. An owner with an existing VUT in a Marbella development that has now voted against new short-stay rentals can continue operating their licence indefinitely. The rule didn't strip existing rights; it changed the path for new ones.
Why Marbella is the most affected
Marbella has the most aggressive licence enforcement on the Costa del Sol. Many gated developments have voted to prohibit new short-term rentals — particularly in residential-led communities where the owner-resident majority outnumbers the rental-investor minority. The pattern isn't uniform: some buildings have voted strongly in favour of continuing to allow new VUTs (often in resort-style developments where short-stay was always part of the pitch), while others have closed the door definitively.
The result is a quarterly-shifting register rather than a static map. We keep an internal record of the buildings we have visibility into, updated as community votes happen.
What we tell prospective Marbella owners
The conversation we have at the discovery call is property-specific. For a property a buyer is considering, we check the building's vote history — is there a community decision on record, and if so, what was it? If a vote hasn't been taken, we look at the resident-to-investor mix in the building to estimate the likely outcome.
In our experience, the most common scenarios are:
- Building has voted in favour: path is straightforward, VUT applications are processed normally.
- Building has voted against: new VUT not currently possible. Existing VUTs continue.
- No vote on record: application can be made, but a future community vote could change the picture.
We tell owners honestly which scenario applies to their specific property. We don't push owners toward properties where the licence path is closed — there's no point. Better to find out at the discovery call than after the keys are handed over.
What it doesn't change
The rule applies only to community buildings — comunidades de propietarios. Detached villas, single-family homes, and properties with their own separate title aren't affected by the 3/5 vote requirement. For those, the licensing path is the standard Junta de Andalucía VUT process plus the NRUA registration.
For investors specifically interested in detached villas in Marbella's hillside districts, the community-vote rule doesn't apply. The licensing question simplifies to the standard Andalucían framework.
The honest summary
Marbella's licensing landscape is more restrictive than other Costa del Sol municipalities for new community-building VUTs, but it's not closed. With the right property in the right building, the licence path is clear. The discovery call is where we walk through the specific case rather than quoting generic policy.
