Subletting in Mallorca: landlord consent and tourist let rules

You rent a flat in Palma, your room will be empty over the summer, and Airbnb offers the prospect of quick money? This is where the problem begins: subletting in Spain is not a grey area you can simply ‘try out’. Spanish tenancy law, the LAU, requires your landlord’s written consent even if you sublet just one room. Without it, subletting is grounds for terminating your tenancy. If the property is also advertised to tourists on Booking or Airbnb, a second, separate set of rules applies: the Balearic Islands’ ETV licence requirement, including zoning restrictions and reporting obligations to the tax authorities. This guide clearly separates the three situations: long-term subletting of a room, subletting an entire property, and short-term tourist lets — with the rules, deadlines and consequences that apply in 2026.

• Long-term rentals in Mallorca: the legal norm

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

Subletting residential property in Spain is governed by the Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos (LAU), published in the Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE). The key provision is Article 8.2 LAU: Subletting is permitted only if the owner gives express written consent. Without that consent, the subletting is unauthorised — with all the consequences this may have for the main tenant.

Importantly, the law sets out only the framework; the details depend on the individual tenancy agreement. If you are considering subletting, read your agreement first — not after you have already listed the property online.

Note: Written consent should not merely be promised verbally; it should be documented in an addendum to the tenancy agreement. Only then can you prove, if a dispute arises, that subletting was permitted.

Case 1: Subletting a room long-term

The most common situation in Mallorca: a tenant lives alone in a property with several rooms and wants to sublet one of them long-term to someone else, such as a colleague or a student. Article 8.2 LAU applies in full here too — the size of the area being sublet makes no difference to the requirement for consent. Subletting a room long-term without permission carries the same risks as subletting the entire property.

In practice, landlords often distinguish between an acquaintance staying overnight briefly for free and a regular, paid sublet. Legally, however, what matters most is whether another person lives in the property on an ongoing basis and pays to do so. If they do, it is subletting under the LAU, regardless of what the arrangement is informally called.

Case 2: Subletting the entire property

If the main tenant sublets the entire property to someone else — for example, because they are temporarily living abroad — the consent requirement under Art. 8.2 LAU also applies. The main difference from subletting a room is the risk: when the entire property is sublet, the landlord loses all direct control over it, so courts and landlords are particularly insistent on written consent.

Important: Use of the property by close family members is not usually considered subletting and does not require separate consent. But as soon as an unrelated person moves in and pays to stay there — whether under a contract or informally — the subletting rules apply.

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

Here, you move beyond tenancy law into a second, independent set of rules: Balearic tourism law. Anyone advertising a rented property on platforms such as Airbnb or Booking.com generally needs an ETV licence — regardless of whether the landlord has consented to the subletting. Without this licence, letting to a succession of guests is illegal, even if the owner agrees.

Since 11 February 2022 a moratorium on new tourist accommodation places had been in force on Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera. Decreto-ley 4/2025, issued in April 2025, has overhauled the rules: it bans new registrations for flats in apartment blocks across all the islands – a ban already in place in Palma since 2018 – cancels the statutory removal of places scheduled for 2026 and creates temporary pools from which island councils can allocate places to houses. Existing, properly registered holiday lets remain valid.

Important: As a tenant (not an owner), you can almost never sublet a rented property to tourists on your own initiative — you would need both your landlord’s written consent under Art. 8.2 LAU and an ETV licence, which is generally held by the owner. Having both is exceptionally rare in a tenancy.

Reporting requirements: DAC7 and the digital Land Registry radar

Anyone hoping to sublet without being noticed should also know that booking platforms such as Airbnb and Booking.com are required under an EU directive (DAC7) to report data about their hosts to the Spanish tax authorities. In addition, Regulation VAU/1560/2025 requires all short-term rental providers — whether letting to tourists, people travelling for work or others — to submit an information return to the relevant Land Registry from 2 January 2026. Anyone who thinks an unreported sublet will go undetected is underestimating this dual reporting trail of platform and Land Registry data.

Consequences of unauthorised subletting

Unauthorised subletting primarily affects the main tenant — not the subtenant. The possible consequences range from termination of the main tenancy without notice to administrative fines for tourist lets without a licence.

Note: The property’s contents insurance may also be affected by tourist subletting if the policy covers only the tenant’s private use. If in doubt, check the policy before taking guests through booking platforms — more on this in the guide to Home contents insurance in Spain.

The role of the owners’ association (Comunidad)

Even if a landlord agrees to subletting, the Comunidad de Propietarios may set its own rules on tourist use in its bylaws — such as a blanket ban on short-term lets in the building. Such rules are now common in many apartment buildings on Mallorca, particularly since tourist lets in apartment buildings in Palma have been restricted by law since 2018. Anyone renting a flat with a view to subletting it should therefore check the Comunidad’s rules as well as the tenancy agreement.

You can find out more about rights and responsibilities within an owners’ association in the guide to owners’ associations in Spain.

Legal alternatives: long-term letting instead of subletting

Anyone who wants to earn regular income from a property without navigating the LAU, ETV licensing requirements and Comunidad bylaws should consider a standard long-term let — as an owner, not a subtenant. The statutory minimum tenancy term is 5 years for private landlords or 7 years for corporate landlords, with the option of automatic renewal. The statutory deposit is one month’s rent excluding utilities; up to two additional months’ rent can also be agreed as security.

For details on tenancy terms, notice periods and market trends, see the guide to long-term rentals on Mallorca and, for shorter agreements, the article on 11-month rental agreements in Spain.

What rules apply to owners who want to offer tourist lets?

If you own the property and want to let it to tourists, you need a valid ETV licence. Existing, properly registered tourist lets remain valid and can be transferred under certain conditions. New licences for apartment buildings are blocked across the archipelago. The guide Transferring an ETV licence in Mallorca explains how such a transfer works in practice.

It is also worth looking at regional rent regulation: areas designated as "zonas tensionadas" have their own rules, which differ from those for conventional long-term lets. Read more in the guide Zonas Tensionadas Mallorca.

The most common subletting mistakes

1. Verbal rather than written consent: Permission given only verbally is difficult to prove if a dispute arises.
2. Confusing use by family and friends with subletting: If you regularly let friends stay in return for payment, you are subletting — even without a formal subtenancy agreement.
3. Tourist letting without an ETV licence: Even with the landlord’s consent, letting to a succession of guests without a licence is not permitted.
4. Ignoring the Comunidad’s rules: Subletting permitted under the LAU may still breach the homeowners’ association’s rules.
5. Failing to declare income: Subletting income is taxable and may come to the attention of the tax authorities through platform data (DAC7).

Checklist: how to sublet legally

• Check the tenancy agreement for any express clauses on subletting
• Obtain the landlord’s written consent and record it in an addendum
• Check the Comunidad de Propietarios’ rules for bans on subletting or tourist letting
• For tourist letting, check with the owner whether the property has a valid ETV licence
• Check whether your insurance policy covers subletting or tourist letting
• Declare subletting income correctly for tax purposes

What happens next?

The legal position continues to evolve in 2026: on 21 May 2026, the Tribunal Supremo struck down the planned national register for tourist lets, reinforcing the Balearic Islands’ regional authority. This could mean less duplicated bureaucracy, but it does not permit unlicensed letting. At the same time, a new reporting requirement through the land registry (VAU/1560/2025) takes effect on 2 January 2026, making short-term lets more transparent. Tenants and owners planning to sublet a property should keep track of these developments rather than rely on a legal position they checked only once.

Conclusion

Subletting in Spain is not straightforward: even permanently letting someone else use a room requires the landlord’s written consent under Art. 8.2 LAU. Without it, the landlord has grounds to terminate the tenancy. Anyone also offering the property to tourists through Airbnb or Booking needs an ETV licence, regardless of the landlord’s consent. On Mallorca, tourist letting in apartment buildings in Palma has been heavily restricted since 2018, as have new tourist rental places across the archipelago since 2025. Anyone seeking to earn rental income legally is generally better off with a conventional long-term let or, as an owner, a licensed tourist let than with an undisclosed sublet.

Official sources

• Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos (LAU), Art. 8.2 — Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE): https://www.boe.es
• Regulation VAU/1560/2025 (short-term rental reporting requirement from 2.1.2026) — 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)