Tourist Licence Freeze in Costa Blanca Coastal Towns 2026

The freeze is uneven. Some ayuntamientos passed outright moratoria, others leaned on the regional decree to refuse files, and a handful of inland municipalities still process new applications in a few weeks. The pattern is coastal and old-town: where tourist pressure is highest, the shutters are down.

Municipality	Status for new VUT (late 2026)	Instrument
Alicante city	Suspended	Municipal moratorium, extended
Dénia (casco antiguo)	Suspended in declared zones	Zona saturada declaration
Calpe	Case-by-case, most refused	PGOU plus Decret 9/2024
Jávea	Restricted in centre	Municipal ordinance
Benidorm	Permitted only in specific uses	Urban plan, strict
Teulada-Moraira	Temporary suspension	Pleno agreement
Altea	Restricted old town	Municipal plan
Villajoyosa	Suspended in centro	Moratorium
Torrevieja	Still open, slower	Decret 9/2024 only
Orihuela Costa	Open, horizontal community blocks	Decret 9/2024 only
Guardamar	Case-by-case	Decret 9/2024 only

The decisive document is the Generalitat's Decret Llei 9/2024, de 2 d'agost, published in the DOGV. The consolidated text sits on the official regional gazette: DOGV Decret Llei 9/2024. Every municipality now layers its own rules on top of it.

What does Decret Llei 9/2024 actually require?

Three things changed in August 2024 and are fully bedded in by 2026.

Five-year validity. New VUT registrations expire after five years and must be renewed. Grandfathered licences keep their original terms until first renewal, then follow the new rule.

Community of owners must authorise. For any dwelling in a building under the Ley de Propiedad Horizontal, the comunidad must approve tourist use with a three-fifths majority. Most Costa Blanca urbanisations with northern European or retired resident owners vote against. Standalone villas are not affected by this clause.

Cadastral and urban conformity. The property must be registered as residential, legal under the local urban plan, and sit outside any declared zona saturada. The municipality verifies before the Generalitat issues the number.

At the national level, the Supreme Court struck down the central short-let registry earlier in 2026. We covered the ruling here: Supreme Court ends Spain's national short-let registry. The regional VUT regime in Valencia was unaffected, because competence sits with the autonomous community.

What does this mean for buyers and owners?

For buyers, the main risk is paying a tourist-use premium on a flat that cannot be registered. Resale apartments in blocks are the exposed category: a seller may advertise "rental potential" that the comunidad has already killed by vote. Ask for the actual VUT number on the escritura and verify it on the Generalitat's Registre de Turisme. If the seller only has an old receipt or an "application pending" slip, treat the licence as absent.

Current owners with a valid VUT lose nothing today, but the five-year clock has started. Build the renewal into your calendar and check your town's urban plan for changes before the date.

If short-let yield was the business case, long-let is now the realistic alternative in most coastal blocks. The arithmetic still works in several corridors; we laid out the numbers in long-term rental yields on the Costa Blanca and in buy-to-let Costa Blanca realistic monthly income. For a national view of where licences are still obtainable, see vacation rental licence Spain 2026. Valencia city's hard ban from 2025 is a separate story, detailed in Valencia short-term rental ban 2026.

Standalone villas with their own plot are the safest VUT target in 2026. Horizontal community rules do not apply, and most inland or hillside areas are not saturated. Our stock of villas in Polop, Finestrat and Monforte del Cid still clears the regional hurdles in weeks rather than months. In the south, Pilar de la Horadada remains workable for detached properties.

Does a frozen town mean I cannot rent at all? No. Long-term rentals (contracts above eleven months under the LAU) are not affected by the VUT regime. The freeze targets short tourist stays only.

If I buy a flat with an existing VUT, does it transfer? The licence is tied to the dwelling, not the owner, so it carries over. Confirm the registry number is active and that no renewal has been missed. When the five-year window closes under new ownership, you apply as a new file under the current rules, including the community vote.

Next steps

Before you offer on anything advertised as tourist-rental, ask us to verify the VUT number and the comunidad minutes. Start with villa-grade stock on our Costa Blanca sale catalogue or call +34 744 64 42 28.