Letting a holiday home in Europe has become more regulated, more visible to the tax authorities and, in some places, simply harder to do. France has cut the tax allowance on furnished holiday lets, Spain has given neighbours a veto over new tourist flats, Barcelona is ending its tourist licences altogether, and since 20 May 2026 an EU regulation has required letting platforms to share data with national authorities.
None of this makes letting impossible. It does mean that rental income should be checked against the local rules before buying, rather than assumed.
France: less tax relief and more local control
The Loi Le Meur of November 2024 changed both the tax and the planning position of furnished tourist lets. Under the simplified micro-BIC regime, the tax-free allowance on unclassified holiday lets fell from 50% to 30% of income, with a ceiling of €15,000 a year, for income from 2025. For lets with an official tourism classification, the allowance fell from 71% to 50%; the ceiling for that regime is €83,600 for 2026 income.
Communes have new powers. They can require every holiday let to be registered, reduce the number of days a main residence may be let from 120 to 90 a year, and set quotas. Mayors can impose fines of up to €10,000 for failing to register and up to €20,000 for a false declaration. A national online registration system for all furnished tourist lets was set by decree to start on 20 May 2026. In apartment buildings, a two-thirds majority of co-owners can now change the building rules to ban tourist lets, where unanimity used to be needed.
Energy ratings matter too. By 2034, every furnished tourist let will need an energy performance rating between A and D, and letting in breach of the rules carries a fine of up to €5,000.
Spain: neighbours, regions and Barcelona
Since 3 April 2025, a new tourist flat in a Spanish apartment building needs the approval of three-fifths of the owners, holding three-fifths of the building's shares, under Organic Law 1/2025. The national register of short-term lets introduced in July 2025 was annulled by Spain's Supreme Court on 19 May 2026, which found that the state lacked the power to impose it. The regional tourist licence therefore remains the key requirement, and the regions have been tightening.
- Barcelona plans not to renew around 10,100 tourist-flat licences, which will end by November 2028. Spain's Constitutional Court upheld the Catalan law behind the plan in March 2025.
- The Balearic Islands approved a decree in April 2025 that generally bans new tourist lets in apartment buildings, with fines for the most serious breaches of up to €500,000.
- The Valencia region now requires a favourable municipal planning report before a tourist flat can be registered, and lets councils cap numbers by building or area.
Portugal: more stability, with local limits
Portugal has moved the other way. A decree in force since 1 November 2024 reversed the 2023 Mais Habitação measures: local accommodation licences no longer expire after five years, and a licence can survive a sale. Councils, however, can create containment zones and suspend new registrations, and a building's owners can oppose a unit on the grounds of repeated disturbance. Lisbon and Porto both restrict new licences in their busiest parishes.
The EU rules and the UK tax position
EU Regulation 2024/1028 has applied since 20 May 2026. Where a country runs a registration scheme, platforms must display the registration number, check it and remove invalid listings, and share activity data with the authorities. In practice, unregistered letting through the major platforms is becoming difficult anywhere in the EU.
A UK resident is normally taxed in the UK on rent from a property abroad, with relief for foreign tax paid on the same income. The furnished holiday lettings regime, which gave holiday lets in the UK and the EEA more favourable treatment, was abolished from April 2025. The Budget on 28 October announced higher rates of income tax on property income from April 2027; how they apply to income from property abroad should be confirmed with a tax adviser once HMRC's detailed guidance is available.
Before buying to let
- Check whether the commune or region requires a licence or registration, and whether new licences are being issued at all.
- In an apartment building, read the rules and ask whether the owners have voted, or could vote, to restrict tourist lets.
- Check the energy rating and what it would cost to bring it up to the required level.
- Model the income after local tax, UK tax and management costs, not before.
None of this is legal or tax advice; the rules vary by commune and region and continue to change.
Dolce Vita handles sales and lettings across the UK from Mayfair, and helps clients buy abroad through partner agencies. If you are selling or letting a UK home to fund a home abroad, Request a valuation; we acknowledge the same working day and return a written valuation within 24 to 48 hours.
Chris Dawson, Co-Founder
Sources: Service-Public.fr, "Meublés de tourisme: ce que change la loi Le Meur" (26 November 2024, updated 20 January 2025). WebLex, "Location meublée: quelle fiscalité en 2026", 11 September 2026. Légifiscal, national online declaration of furnished tourist lets from 20 May 2026, 4 May 2026. La Moncloa, owners' approval for tourist flats, 1 April 2025. Osborne Clarke, "Spain's Supreme Court annuls national short-let register", 25 June 2026. Catalan News, Constitutional Court ruling on Barcelona tourist flats, 14 March 2025. Majorca Daily Bulletin, Balearic tourist containment decree, 11 April 2025. Cuatrecasas, Valencia region tourist housing rules and Portugal's local accommodation reform (Decree-Law 76/2024), 2024. European Commission, common EU rules on short-term rental data (Regulation (EU) 2024/1028), 8 June 2026. gov.uk, "Tax on foreign income: rent", updated 1 October 2026. HMRC, Property Income Manual PIM4165, updated 21 May 2026. HM Treasury, Budget 2026: overview of tax legislation and rates, 28 October 2026.