Subletting in Spain: what tenants in Mallorca are allowed to do — and what gets expensive

You're renting in Palma, your room stands empty in summer and Airbnb beckons with quick money? This is exactly where the problem starts: subletting in Spain is not a grey area you can just "try out". Spanish tenancy law LAU requires the written consent of the landlord as soon as you pass on even a single room — without it, subletting is grounds for termination. If the flat is additionally offered for tourist purposes via Booking or Airbnb, a second, independent layer of regulation comes into play: the Balearic ETV licence requirement with zoning bans and reporting obligations to tax authorities. This guide clearly separates the three cases: permanently subletting a room, subletting an entire flat, and short-term tourist letting — with the rules, deadlines and consequences that apply in 2026.

Do you want to know whether your tenancy agreement even permits subletting, or whether legal holiday letting would be worthwhile for your property?

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The legal framework: What does the LAU say about subletting?

Subletting of residential property in Spain is regulated by the Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos (LAU), published in the Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE). Decisive is Article 8.2 LAU: Subletting is only permitted if the owner expressly consents and in writing. Without this consent, the subletting is deemed unauthorised — with all the consequences this can have for the primary tenant.

Importantly: the law only sets the framework — the specific details depend on the individual tenancy agreement. Anyone considering subletting as a tenant should therefore first read their own contract — not only once the flat is already listed online.

Note: Written consent should not simply be given verbally, but documented as an addendum to the tenancy agreement. Only this way can it be proven in a dispute that subletting was genuinely authorised.

Case 1: Permanently subletting a room

The most common case in Mallorca: a tenant lives alone in a flat with several rooms and wants to permanently pass one on to a third person, such as a colleague or a student. Here too, Art. 8.2 LAU applies in full — the size of the sublet area is irrelevant to the consent requirement. Anyone who permanently sublets a room without permission risks the same consequences as subletting the entire flat.

In practice, landlords often distinguish between a short-term, unpaid overnight stay by friends and a regular, paid subletting. Legally, however, what matters above all is whether a third person lives permanently in the flat in exchange for payment — in that case, it is considered subletting within the meaning of the LAU, regardless of what it is informally called.

Case 2: Subletting the entire flat

If the main tenant sublets the entire flat to a third party — for example because they themselves are temporarily living abroad — the obligation to obtain consent under Art. 8.2 LAU also applies. The difference from the room case lies mainly in the risk: when the entire flat is sublet, the landlord loses direct control over their property completely, which is why courts and landlords insist particularly consistently on written consent in this case.

Please note: Use of the flat by close family members is usually not considered subletting and is possible independently of separate consent. However, as soon as an unrelated third party moves in against payment — whether by contract or informally — the rules on subletting apply.

Case 3: Short-term tourist subletting via Airbnb & Booking

Here you leave the pure rental-contract realm and enter a second, independent set of rules: Balearic tourism law. Anyone offering a rented flat on platforms such as Airbnb or Booking.com fundamentally needs an ETV licence — regardless of whether the landlord has even consented to the subletting. Without this licence, renting to changing guests is illegal, even if the owner were to agree.

Since 11 February 2022, a moratorium applied in Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera, halting the granting of new ETV licences until at least 2026. The decree to curb tourism (April 2025) has lifted this moratorium and re-regulated the market: new places in multi-family buildings remain banned across the archipelago — following the model that has already been applied in Palma since 2018. Around 90,000 existing licences, granted before 2017, remain valid and transferable, however.

Important: As a tenant (not owner), you are practically never allowed to sublet a rented flat for tourist purposes on your own — this would require both the landlord's written consent under Art. 8.2 LAU and an ETV licence, which is usually held in the owner's name. Having both together is an absolute exception in a tenancy.

Reporting obligations: DAC7 and the digital Land Registry radar

Even those wishing to sublet unnoticed should know: booking platforms such as Airbnb and Booking.com are obliged, under an EU directive (DAC7), to report their providers' data to the Spanish tax authorities. In addition, Regulation VAU/1560/2025 requires, from 2 January 2026, all providers of short-term rentals — whether for tourism, work-related or other purposes — to submit an informative declaration to the relevant Land Registry office. Anyone who believes an unreported sublet will stay under the radar underestimates this double reporting chain of platform and Land Registry data.

Consequences of unauthorised subletting

Unauthorised subletting primarily affects the main tenant — not the subtenant. Possible consequences range from immediate termination of the main tenancy agreement to administrative fines for tourist use without a licence.

Note: The flat's contents insurance may also be affected in the case of tourist subletting, if the policy only covers private use by the tenant. If in doubt, check the policy before taking in guests via portals — more on this in the guide to Contents insurance Spain.

The role of the owners' association (Comunidad)

Even if a landlord consents to subletting, the Comunidad de Propietarios can lay down its own rules on tourist use in its statutes — for example, a general ban on short-term letting within the building. Such resolutions are now common in many multi-family buildings on Mallorca, especially since tourist letting in multi-family buildings in Palma has been legally restricted since 2018. Anyone renting a flat with a view to subletting should therefore be familiar not only with the tenancy agreement but also with the Comunidad's house rules.

You can find out more about the rights and obligations within an owners' association in our guide to the Eigentümergemeinschaft Spanien.

Legal alternatives: long-term letting instead of subletting

Anyone wanting to generate regular income from a property without getting caught up in the tension between the LAU, the ETV licence and the Comunidad's statutes should consider regular long-term letting — as the owner, not as a subtenant. The statutory minimum tenancy period is 5 years for private landlords or 7 years where the landlord is a company, with the possibility of automatic renewal. The statutory deposit amounts to one month's cold rent, and up to two further months' rent may additionally be agreed contractually as security.

Details on terms, termination and market trends can be found in our guide to Langzeitmiete Mallorca as well as on shorter contract forms in the article 11-Monats-Mietvertrag Spanien.

What applies to owners who want to let for tourist purposes?

If you are the owner yourself and want to let your property to tourists, you need a valid ETV licence. Existing licences — in particular the roughly 90,000 places granted before 2017 — enjoy grandfathered protection under the decree of April 2025 and can still be transferred. New licences for multi-family buildings are blocked across the whole archipelago. How such a licence transfer works in practice is explained in the guide ETV-Lizenz übertragen Mallorca.

It's also worth taking a look at regional rent regulation: in areas designated as "zonas tensionadas", separate rules apply that differ from the classic long-term lease — more on this in the guide Zonas Tensionadas Mallorca.

Most common mistakes in subletting

1. Verbal instead of written consent: Permission agreed only verbally is difficult to prove in the event of a dispute.
2. Confusing family use with subletting: Anyone who regularly lets friends stay in exchange for payment is subletting — even without a classic sublease agreement.
3. Touristic letting without an ETV licence: Even with the landlord's consent, letting to changing guests without a licence remains unlawful.
4. Ignoring the Comunidad statutes: Subletting permitted under the LAU can still violate the house rules of the Comunidad de Propietarios.
5. Undeclared income: Income from subletting is relevant for tax purposes and can come to the attention of the tax authorities via portal data (DAC7).

Checklist: approaching subletting with legal certainty

• Check the tenancy agreement for explicit clauses on subletting
• Obtain the landlord's written consent and document it as an addendum
• Check the statutes of the Comunidad de Propietarios for bans on subletting/tourist use
• For tourist use: clarify with the owner whether a valid ETV licence exists
• Check the insurance policy for coverage in cases of subletting/tourist use
• Correctly declare income from subletting for tax purposes

What comes next?

The legal situation remains in flux in 2026: on 21 May 2026, the Tribunal Supremo struck down the planned national register for tourist lettings, thereby strengthening the regional competence of the Balearics — this potentially means less duplicate bureaucracy, but not a free pass for unlicensed letting. At the same time, from 2 January 2026 the new reporting obligation via the Land Registry (VAU/1560/2025) takes effect, making short-term lettings more transparent. Anyone planning to sublet a property, whether as tenant or owner, should keep a close eye on these developments rather than relying on a status quo that was only checked once.

Conclusion

Subletting in Spain is not a foregone conclusion: even permanently passing on a room requires the landlord's written consent under Art. 8.2 LAU, without which grounds for termination arise. Anyone who additionally offers the flat for tourist use via Airbnb or Booking needs an ETV licence regardless — on Mallorca already heavily restricted since 2018 in multi-family buildings in Palma, and since 2025 across the whole archipelago for new places. Anyone wanting to generate income with legal certainty is far better off with a regular long-term letting or a licensed tourist letting as owner than with a quiet sublet.

Official sources

• Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos (LAU), Art. 8.2 — Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE): https://www.boe.es
• Regulation VAU/1560/2025 (reporting obligation for short-term lettings from 2 January 2026) — Ministry of Housing and Urban Development
• Tribunal Supremo, ruling of 21 May 2026 on the national holiday rental register
• Decree to curb tourism, Govern de les Illes Balears (April 2025)