Spain’s southern city of Malaga (Andalusia) has become the latest destination to tighten controls on tourist accommodation, with a three-year suspension on new licences for holiday flats and certain tourist accommodation now officially in force as part of a wider effort to protect residential housing and curb the impact of mass tourism.
The moratorium came into effect on Saturday 25 July, after Malaga City Council’s initial approval of amendments to the city’s General Urban Development Plan (PGOU) was published in the Official Provincial Gazette (BOP) on Friday.
The measures fulfil a commitment first announced by Mayor Francisco de la Torre in 2025 and represent what Spanish media have described as the ‘full stop’ in a series of increasingly restrictive initiatives aimed at limiting the expansion of tourist accommodation in one of Spain’s most popular holiday destinations. ALSO READ: Malaga keeps commitment to suspend new tourist flat licences for three years.
The changes have been introduced on the grounds of ‘general public interest’ and are intended to prioritise residential housing over tourism. According to the city council, the objective is to safeguard and strengthen residential use while preventing further pressure on the city’s housing market.
For a maximum of three years – or until the ongoing modification of the city’s urban plan is approved, if that happens sooner – no new licences or authorisations will be granted for tourist accommodation that fail to comply with the new planning rules.
The legislation prevents residential properties from being converted into tourist accommodation and also restricts the conversion of commercial premises into residential or tourist accommodation where the new planning criteria are not met.
However, the suspension does not affect applications that had already been submitted before the agreement was published in the provincial bulletin. Existing licence applications or planning procedures specifying tourist accommodation lodged before 24 July will continue to be processed under the previous rules.
The latest move forms the third phase of Malaga’s broader strategy to regulate tourist accommodation and improve the quality of the city’s tourism sector.
The first stage, introduced in June 2024, clarified that new tourist apartments could only be registered if they had their own independent entrance and services, separate from the rest of the residential building.
A second phase came into force in January 2025 after a study into the impact of tourist accommodation found that holiday rentals accounted for more than 8% of the housing stock in 43 neighbourhoods. New tourist apartments were prohibited in those districts, while in the city’s remaining 328 neighbourhoods they were only permitted if they had separate entrances and independent services.
Alongside those local measures, Malaga also relied on powers introduced under Andalusia’s urgent housing decree, which allowed municipalities to suspend new tourist accommodation licences while changes to their planning regulations were being prepared.
The latest planning amendment now extends those restrictions across the entire municipality, effectively halting the approval of new tourist accommodation citywide while the revised planning framework is finalised. ALSO READ: Spanish government to limit short-term rentals and tourist flats to address housing crisis.
The crackdown comes amid growing concern over the impact of short-term holiday rentals on local communities. Many residents blame the rapid growth of Airbnb-style accommodation for reducing the supply of long-term housing and driving up rental prices, making it increasingly difficult for local people to find affordable homes. ALSO READ: ‘Mallorca at breaking point’: record anti-tourism protest ends in clashes with police.
According to the Andalusian Tourism Registry, Malaga currently has 12,648 licensed tourist apartments, although many observers believe hundreds or even thousands of additional properties may be operating without official registration. ALSO READ: Spain to impose tougher rental regulations, including caps on room rents and limits on seasonal lets.
Tourism accommodation and hotel associations have criticised the moratorium, arguing that it ‘will not solve the problem’ of housing in Malaga and warning that it could put around 3,500 jobs at risk. They maintain that the city’s housing shortage is primarily the result of insufficient residential construction and lengthy planning bureaucracy rather than tourist accommodation. ALSO READ: Spain to spend €1.3 billion on ‘industrial construction of social housing’.
Malaga is far from alone in introducing tougher restrictions on the holiday rental market. Barcelona has pledged to eliminate all tourist apartments by 2028, while cities including Valencia and Madrid, along with tourist regions such as the Canary Islands, have also introduced measures designed to reduce the impact of short-term rentals on local housing markets. ALSO READ: Barcelona wants to revoke all city’s 10,101 tourist apartment licences by Nov 2028.
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Buenos días.Hoy entra en vigor la suspensión para cambiar el uso de un suelo residencial a hospedaje.También se modifican las condiciones para convertir un local comercial en vivienda. Será por tres años o hasta que se apruebe la modificación del Plan General que está en trámite. pic.twitter.com/n2gJaw8LSS
— Ciudad de Málaga (@malaga) July 25, 2026
Mañana entra en vigor la limitación del uso de hospedaje como alternativo del uso residencial y la modificación de las condiciones para cambiar el uso de un local en planta baja en vivienda. Más información 👉 https://t.co/YbwJKdd58b pic.twitter.com/KgsAtNB4GW
— Ciudad de Málaga (@malaga) July 24, 2026
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