The April 2025 amendment to the Ley de Propiedad Horizontal — introducing a 3/5 majority community vote requirement before any new VUT licence can be granted in a community building — has reshaped the Costa del Sol rental market more dramatically than most observers expected. A year on, the picture is clear enough to map out city by city.
What the rule did
Before April 2025, a VUT application in a community building was an individual-owner decision. The owner applied, the Junta de Andalucía processed, the property got its licence.
After April 2025, the Spanish Ley de Propiedad Horizontal requires a three-fifths majority vote of the comunidad de propietarios (60% of the building's full ownership) to approve before any new VUT can be granted to any apartment in that building. Existing licences from before April 2025 are grandfathered.
The amendment shifted the locus of decision-making from the individual owner to the building.
Costa del Sol enforcement, city by city
Twelve months in, enforcement varies sharply across the eight Costa del Sol cities Glaser Group covers:
Marbella is the most variable city on the strip. Old Town walk-ups around Plaza de los Naranjos have leaned pragmatic. The Sierra Blanca and Golden Mile gated cluster is largely controlled by estatutos drafted long before 2025 that already prohibit short-term commercial use — the 3/5 vote is moot there because changing estatutos requires unanimity. Puerto Banús has voted overwhelmingly permissive. Nueva Andalucía (Aloha, Las Brisas, La Quinta, Magna Marbella) is genuinely mixed, sometimes within the same urbanización phase by phase.
Mijas holds the most contested votes on the network in its 1990s-2000s pool-complex urbanizaciones. Calahonda, Riviera del Sol, Sitio de Calahonda, Miraflores and El Faro de Calaburras concentrate buildings where roughly half the owners bought for yield and half for retirement, and the 3/5 vote has forced an explicit decision. La Cala de Mijas centre has been uniformly permissive. Mijas Pueblo, with its smaller blocks and freehold villas, is informally pragmatic.
Benahavís is the inverse case: in much of the gated urbanización stock (La Zagaleta, parts of La Quinta, El Madroñal) the estatutos already prohibit short-let, so the 3/5 vote is academic. Where votes have happened — Los Flamingos, Capanes del Golf, the newer mixed-character developments — outcomes have tracked the developer's original marketing.
Estepona absorbed the amendment from a particular starting point: more of its apartment stock is post-2015 than in any other rental-management market we cover. Comunidades in New Golden Mile, the Cancelada/Bel Air corridor, Las Olas and the Mirador del Paraíso phases were often holding their first meaningful tourist-rental vote in 2025. Outcomes have been wider in spread than in older markets.
Benalmádena is three sub-towns with three different vote cultures. Benalmádena Costa (Torremuelle, Torrequebrada, Reserva del Higuerón) has leaned strongly permissive on the seafront-tourist blocks. Benalmádena Pueblo's smaller blocks have been informally pragmatic. Arroyo de la Miel is the most variable mixed-use sub-town.
Fuengirola has the densest apartment stock per square kilometre on the network — 40-80 unit blocks in Los Boliches, Torreblanca and Carvajal — and the 3/5 vote has run on administrador-led written canvasses outside the AGM itself. Los Boliches has leaned strongly permissive; Torreblanca/Carvajal more variable; the older central blocks around Las Rampas and Plaza de la Hispanidad genuinely mixed.
Torremolinos has the longest continuous short-let tradition on the strip and the highest VUT density per capita. Most comunidades had a settled view by 2025 and the 3/5 vote ratified it. La Carihuela and Bajondillo are uniformly permissive; Playamar's large towers vary by building; Montemar's residential character has produced several restrictive votes.
Málaga is a structurally different case. The Junta de Andalucía has designated parts of Málaga capital — Centro Histórico, Soho, parts of La Malagueta — as zonas tensionadas por saturación. Inside these zones no new VUT is granted regardless of community vote, making the 3/5 question moot for new licences. Outside saturation, in Pedregalejo, El Palo, Limonar and parts of the west and north, the 3/5 vote is live and meaningful.
What's actually changing on the ground
Three patterns we observe across the cluster:
- Existing-VUT properties have appreciated — particularly in Marbella, Mijas and Estepona. The market is repricing properties with grandfathered licences against comparable non-licensed stock.
- Buying behaviour has shifted toward licence-cleared buildings — buyers increasingly want documented community-vote positions, not just "the apartment has potential for short-let".
- Self-managing owners are exiting buildings that voted prohibition — typically converting to long-stay or selling, depending on capital flexibility.
What buyers should check before any new offer
Across all eight cities, the same checklist applies:
- Read the comunidad meeting minutes for the past 24 months. The administrador de fincas can provide them.
- Confirm whether existing VUT licences exist in the building. The Junta de Andalucía maintains a public register.
- Check the comunidad statutes for any clauses prohibiting short-term rental — some buildings adopted such clauses long before 2025.
- Verify the seller's own VUT status if applicable.
Skipping these steps is the single most common mistake we see Costa del Sol buyers make in 2026.
What sellers should know
If you hold an existing VUT licence in a building where the comunidad has since voted prohibition, that licence is genuinely valuable — there's no path to obtain a new one in that building. Document it carefully and price accordingly.
Looking ahead
The 3/5 rule is national legislation, not Andalusian. It applies across Spain. Whether enforcement tightens or relaxes over the next 18 months depends on national housing policy and broader political dynamics.
What's clear today: any new Costa del Sol property purchase that involves community-building stock should include a comunidad-vote check as a non-negotiable due-diligence step. We do this for every property we consider managing.
